A Puff of Absurdity: On Being a Mean Mum (and Defining Bullying)
“He cut Charlie’s ear, and he’s driving him nuts! Water won’t hurt him; it will just remind him to stay off our porch.” “You know what you just cut, mom? The line that connects us. You are not my...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: On Hate Crimes and Sexual Orientation
I was reviewing for a test on theories of discrimination and hate crimes in Canada with grade 12 students, and one review question was, “When was sexual orientation added to the list of identifiable...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: On Teacher Accountability
One criticism that Cooper and friends say is part of the problem with education is a lack of teacher accountability. I actually agree with this one. But how do we assess teacher ability? And, maybe...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: Seniority Does Not Always Equal Merit
The title is from a line in an essay published in Friday’s Globe and Mail: ”I’m a First-Year Teacher Who Will Automatically be Fired at the End of the School Year.” The author of this unwieldly...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: On Strength and Contempt: Skyler and Sinead
the infamous album I want to start with the admission that the first DVD I ever got was Sinead O’Connor’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got. It’s attached to some fond personal memories. I was...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: On Our Continued Sexual Repression
Sherlock & John I watched the first episode of the new season of Sherlock last night. There’s a sub-plot with no spoilers here: John Watson gets engaged to Mary. Mrs. Hudson, the landlady, is...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: The Religious Extremism of New Atheists
I wrote a tiny blurb about this over a month ago. This one is much longer and leans heavily on solid arguments from many critics – letting their words speak for themselves. The issue has become...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: On Dying and Grieving and Judgment
My dad passed away this week. He was older than the hills: 93 and a half years old. I’m not sad about his passing; he lived a long and fulfilling life. But I am troubled by how he went, and our...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: More on Critical Thinking
Owen at Northern Reflections wrote about Crawford Kilian‘s recent article in the Tyee about the need for critical thinking in schools, which referenced Jeet Heer‘s twitter essay on Sartre where I...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: On Silence in the Face of Alt-Facts
I think part of the reason we’re swimming in crap is because we care more about being friendly than we do about spreading accurate claims. There are courses out there to learn how to detect bullshit,...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: More on Critical Thinking
Owen at Northern Reflections wrote about Crawford Kilian‘s recent article in the Tyee about the need for critical thinking in schools, which referenced Jeet Heer‘s twitter essay on Sartre where I found...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: On Silence in the Face of Alt-Facts
I think part of the reason we’re swimming in crap is because we care more about being friendly than we do about spreading accurate claims. There are courses out there to learn how to detect bullshit,...
View ArticleA Puff of Absurdity: So, Where are We Headed?
I knew what he was going to say as soon as we made eye contact. A bearded shit-eating grin in a pickup-truck stopped at a light while I cycled across the intersection to join a trail packed with...
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