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What do you care to know about the world?


26 July 12 10:13 AM
Teaching matters. We owe it to our children to get it right. What do you care to know about the world? There's a place for what used to be called boredom, for empty spaces to slide into your mind. It's not particularly unpleasant, but it lacks the dopamine Read More...
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A story about basil


21 May 12 07:06 PM
And she forgot the stars, the moon and sun, And she forgot the blue above the trees, And she forgot the dells where waters run, And she forgot the chilly autumn breeze; She had no knowledge when the day was done, And the new morn she saw not: but in peace Read More...
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Distracted


31 March 12 05:31 PM
I lost a friend this week, a strong woman who once jumped out of airplanes to fight forest fires, and lost her fight with some vagrant cells after a long, long battle. None of us are permanent, of course, a flippant statement when one is healthy. She's Read More...
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Imbolc


01 February 12 08:33 PM
An Cailleach Bhearra wandered around back in the 10th century in western Ireland, eating "seaweed, salmon, and wild garlic" (my kind of woman), looking for firewood. If the day was bright and sunny, beware--she had gathered plenty of wood and was set Read More...
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Truth


28 January 12 08:50 PM
A drum found on the edge of the Delaware Bay. Grace God, I know nothing, my sense is all nonsense, And fear of You begins intelligence; Does it end there? For sexual love, for food, For books and birch trees I claim gratitude, But when I grieve over the Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 13 Comments    
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A scatalogical myth


18 January 12 07:11 PM
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Genesis 3:19 KJV I teach high school biology. I happen to love teaching, and I enjoy Read More...
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A late December walk


29 December 11 06:51 PM
'Turn away no more; Why wilt thou turn away The starry floor, The watery shore, Is given thee till the break of day.' William Blake Today is the last day of the darkest two weeks of the year, the shadows stretched long on the beach like languid lovers Read More...
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Dark


15 December 11 06:20 PM
Last week of the sinking sun. The Earth hurtles closer to the sun, but my little piece of paradise edges more and more oblique to the sun, our source of light, of life. We're in the dark season. *** The bell still rings at 7:45 in the morning. It's not Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 1 Comments    
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Last Saturday of November


26 November 11 05:45 PM
Raked some leaves, then some clams, then some charcoals to cook the clams. New moon tide in late November on a spectacular day makes for good living, at least for me. Can't say the same for the clams now in my belly. In between the leaves and the clams, Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 4 Comments    
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Thanksgiving redux


24 November 11 07:05 AM
I liked this 3 years ago. I still like it....Happy Thanksgiving! This week's The New Yorker magazine cover highlights a turkey sitting on a ledge with a few pigeons. It's the classic turkey any schoolkid would draw--blue head, red wattle, and a lovely Read More...
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Another year goes by, and the apple trees are bare again


12 November 11 11:47 AM
Today marks the anniversary of my sister's death, when a self-described Christian missionary ran her off the road, left the scene, then wrote to me (after being apprehended by the police a day later), that this was God's will. Apparently some modern day Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 7 Comments    
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Science for non-science majors


07 November 11 08:44 PM
If a child has an insatiable appetite to learn about the world, to pursue patterns and rhythms in the swirl of sensations slipping into her consciousness each day, then it makes sense to teach her the vocabulary of the trade. If a child chases the rational Read More...
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Life on a limb


05 November 11 09:56 AM
We got smacked last week--I still step over a downed line when walking to school, and the curbs are lined with life-like tree limbs. Just seeing all these leafy zombie branches edging the asphalt gives me an odd joy. I wonder if other biology teachers Read More...
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Pediatrics vs. teaching


08 September 11 07:21 PM
I used to be a doctor, the kind with a stethoscope, the kind licensed to hurt you for you own good. It puzzles children to learn that a physician would walk away from medicine in order to teach, and there are days I am baffled myself. I liked medicine. Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 11 Comments    
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Bats!


13 August 11 08:38 AM
Last night was Perseids night --we had our lawn chairs out, the full moon's light blocked by the garage at our backs. The mosquitoes, our state bird, were scarce enough that we had not slathered on whatever state-of-the-art organic compounds we use to Read More...
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