Happy Thanksgiving! and Welcome back to Then and Now, a now nd then newsletter.
This month I want to challenge you to think out of the box on the troubling state of American higher education, before going on to riddles, palindromes and other cheerier topics. But first: Have you missed any recent discussions of whether Greek tragedies continued to be produced during the great pandemic in ancient Athens, whether Thucydides got it right, whether Rishi Sunak is a “person of color,” and Kherson, and the stealing of the bones of Potemkin, and what the value of Pi has to do with climate change? They are all discussed on my blog, right here.
Connecting the Dots for Higher Education:
Here are four dots to connect, all from recent developments affecting American higher education, once our pride and joy:
First dot, the end of Affirmative Action now seems very likely when the Supreme Court rules on policies at Harvard and UNC- Chapel Hill.
Second dot, Biden’s executive order cancelling (some) student debt is estimated to cost between $379 billion and $400 over the next few decades. That’s a lot of pocket change. It’s running into a lot of difficulties, legal and practical. Axios on November 19th provided a good survey Readers of tis Newsletter know I think the plan is very bad policy, but even if it succeeds,. it will do nothing to address the long term problem of financing college education..
Third dot. Taxing College Endowments: Senator Thomas B. Cotton (R-Arkansas), has proposed the “Ivy Tower Tax Act” the proceeds of which would be used to fund programs in vocational education. Good camouflage for his own Harvard degree! As drafted this may hurt his alma mater, but he may have a point in going after those places that spend less than 5% of their endowment per year. That’s not entirely unreasonable since the IRS requires tax exempt foundations to meet that spending requirement each year and foundations flourish nonetheless.
Fourth dot: Gambling on Campus: at least eight universities are making a lot of money by encouraging betting on their sports teams. It’s already big business ad there’s more to come,,according to a recent article in the New York Time.
Connect these dots: Try connecting these dots and see if they don’t point to the need for,and funding for, a new program of Adversity Scholarships (not loans) for applicants of any race or ethnicity who have demonstrated academic achievements, despite financial, medical or other adversities.
-
Riddle of Last Month:
The solution I had in mind to last month’s riddle (“What begins with E and ends with E but has only one letter?”) was envelope, but David Konstan suggested epistle. It works, too. And a pun for the solution comes from Al Duncan: “I / eye.” Smart readers, these!
New Riddle for this Month:
This one, freely translated, is attributed to Cleobouline of Lindos on Rhodes in the sixth century BCE. She is said to have composed many riddles in hexameter verse.:
Alive my braying voice could drive a man to tears;
Dead my knobbly bones will bring pleasure to your ears.
What am I?”
Send on your solutions. .The answer will be in the January Then and Now Newsletter.
--
Congratulations, Dr. Fauci:
Dr. Anthony Fauci will retire at the end of this year after a long career notable for his ability to convey clearly and c cogently the medical knowledge we have needed to cope with the pandemic. Thank you Dr. Fauci. Is it possible that your accomplishments were built in part on your undergraduate major at Holy Cross College,, combining preparation for med school with study of the Classics?.
Ulysses in Puerto Rico:
Ulysses, Turey de Vizcaya,¨, Photographs and Sculptures by Adrian Badias are on display at the Archivo General de Puerto Rico in, San Juan, through December. This work is worth the plane ticket.
--
Palindromes:
Do you know a better palindrome than “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama”? Or these two, one Latin, one English, concerning a meeting in the Garden of Eden, “Ave, Eva,” freely translated as “Madam, I’m Adam.’”
What’s your favorite palindrome?
--
WHY ALL THIS NONSENSE - Riddles, Palindromes, Neologisms, Words of the Month , and the like?
Because in a microscopically small way they help keep us alert to word choice and hence to the power of speech acts and to a macro issue: the constant need for the rectification of language. Chinese thinking on this topic is often cited, but isn’t it also the core of the Socratic enterprise?
--
--
Congratulations to Mark Mazower on being awarded the Gennadius Prize. Mazower, professor of History at Columbia … has broadened our understanding of Greece through huis books on Nazi Greece, the history of the Balkans, the multicultural world of Salonica, and most recently the Greek Revolution. .
--
Word of the Month:
satisfice
“What most of us do most of the time is “satisfice,” to use a word coined by the Nobel laureate Herbert Simon in 1956. To satisfice is to satisfy and suffice — to make a quick, easy decision that, while maybe not perfect, is good enough.“ Peter Coy, “In Praise of the Humble Rule og Thumb” : .
I do this all the time when dining out. Because of my poor vision my wife, Callie, reads the menu t me until I find a dish that sounds good to me. Then we stop and get on with the conversation. I am rarely disappointed in either the food or the talk. In other words, it satifices.
Quotable:
Bernard Williams: “if we find things of special beauty and power in what has survived from that [the classical Greek] world, it is encouraging to think that we might move beyond marveling at them, to putting them, or bits of them, to modern uses”
Ponderable:
“Thanks is not a feeling we express but a relationship into which we enter,” Maurice Brendenheim (Confessions, Volume III, p. 389, tr. R..Frotheringham)
--
Family Business:
When Steve Connor started building classical guitars, I thought he was making instruments, that is,. devices that helped other people produce beautiful art. Now, when I see his guitars, I realize they are themselves works of art. Check out his website. https://www.connorguitars.com/
And here’s a play list of performances on his guitars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKMXAm1H5n4&list=PLED303CC375F2ED36
--
Happy?
Froma Zeitlin helps with my question about the Hebrew of Psalm 1: “ he Hebrew word is ‘ashrei, which means happy. Ashrei is one of the most often repeated prayers in Jewish tradition ,,, In traditional practice, a person recites Ashrei at least three times a day – twice in the morning service and once in the afternoon service.
Thanks for your help, Froma. Ashrei!
--
More on Glob on Bogs:
In the lats Then and Now Newsletter I wondered who wrote the delightful review of “Glob on bogs…”? Andrew Bridges tells me it was his Greats tutor at Merton College Oxon., Tom Braun, , a man with a reputation for acerbic eccentricity, remarkable even by Oxford standards.
--
Forthcoming): There’ll be no December Then and Now (after all, it is a now and then newsletter), but I will keep blogging. Stay tuned, and have a happy Thanksgiving and merry holidays. Ashrei!
See you in January 2023.
Bob Connor
PS If you enjoyed this newsletter, inflict it on an unsuspecting friend.
This month I want to challenge you to think out of the box on the troubling state of American higher education, before going on to riddles, palindromes and other cheerier topics. But first: Have you missed any recent discussions of whether Greek tragedies continued to be produced during the great pandemic in ancient Athens, whether Thucydides got it right, whether Rishi Sunak is a “person of color,” and Kherson, and the stealing of the bones of Potemkin, and what the value of Pi has to do with climate change? They are all discussed on my blog, right here.
Connecting the Dots for Higher Education:
Here are four dots to connect, all from recent developments affecting American higher education, once our pride and joy:
First dot, the end of Affirmative Action now seems very likely when the Supreme Court rules on policies at Harvard and UNC- Chapel Hill.
Second dot, Biden’s executive order cancelling (some) student debt is estimated to cost between $379 billion and $400 over the next few decades. That’s a lot of pocket change. It’s running into a lot of difficulties, legal and practical. Axios on November 19th provided a good survey Readers of tis Newsletter know I think the plan is very bad policy, but even if it succeeds,. it will do nothing to address the long term problem of financing college education..
Third dot. Taxing College Endowments: Senator Thomas B. Cotton (R-Arkansas), has proposed the “Ivy Tower Tax Act” the proceeds of which would be used to fund programs in vocational education. Good camouflage for his own Harvard degree! As drafted this may hurt his alma mater, but he may have a point in going after those places that spend less than 5% of their endowment per year. That’s not entirely unreasonable since the IRS requires tax exempt foundations to meet that spending requirement each year and foundations flourish nonetheless.
Fourth dot: Gambling on Campus: at least eight universities are making a lot of money by encouraging betting on their sports teams. It’s already big business ad there’s more to come,,according to a recent article in the New York Time.
Connect these dots: Try connecting these dots and see if they don’t point to the need for,and funding for, a new program of Adversity Scholarships (not loans) for applicants of any race or ethnicity who have demonstrated academic achievements, despite financial, medical or other adversities.
-
Riddle of Last Month:
The solution I had in mind to last month’s riddle (“What begins with E and ends with E but has only one letter?”) was envelope, but David Konstan suggested epistle. It works, too. And a pun for the solution comes from Al Duncan: “I / eye.” Smart readers, these!
New Riddle for this Month:
This one, freely translated, is attributed to Cleobouline of Lindos on Rhodes in the sixth century BCE. She is said to have composed many riddles in hexameter verse.:
Alive my braying voice could drive a man to tears;
Dead my knobbly bones will bring pleasure to your ears.
What am I?”
Send on your solutions. .The answer will be in the January Then and Now Newsletter.
--
Congratulations, Dr. Fauci:
Dr. Anthony Fauci will retire at the end of this year after a long career notable for his ability to convey clearly and c cogently the medical knowledge we have needed to cope with the pandemic. Thank you Dr. Fauci. Is it possible that your accomplishments were built in part on your undergraduate major at Holy Cross College,, combining preparation for med school with study of the Classics?.
Ulysses in Puerto Rico:
Ulysses, Turey de Vizcaya,¨, Photographs and Sculptures by Adrian Badias are on display at the Archivo General de Puerto Rico in, San Juan, through December. This work is worth the plane ticket.
--
Palindromes:
Do you know a better palindrome than “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama”? Or these two, one Latin, one English, concerning a meeting in the Garden of Eden, “Ave, Eva,” freely translated as “Madam, I’m Adam.’”
What’s your favorite palindrome?
--
WHY ALL THIS NONSENSE - Riddles, Palindromes, Neologisms, Words of the Month , and the like?
Because in a microscopically small way they help keep us alert to word choice and hence to the power of speech acts and to a macro issue: the constant need for the rectification of language. Chinese thinking on this topic is often cited, but isn’t it also the core of the Socratic enterprise?
--
--
Congratulations to Mark Mazower on being awarded the Gennadius Prize. Mazower, professor of History at Columbia … has broadened our understanding of Greece through huis books on Nazi Greece, the history of the Balkans, the multicultural world of Salonica, and most recently the Greek Revolution. .
--
Word of the Month:
satisfice
“What most of us do most of the time is “satisfice,” to use a word coined by the Nobel laureate Herbert Simon in 1956. To satisfice is to satisfy and suffice — to make a quick, easy decision that, while maybe not perfect, is good enough.“ Peter Coy, “In Praise of the Humble Rule og Thumb” : .
I do this all the time when dining out. Because of my poor vision my wife, Callie, reads the menu t me until I find a dish that sounds good to me. Then we stop and get on with the conversation. I am rarely disappointed in either the food or the talk. In other words, it satifices.
Quotable:
Bernard Williams: “if we find things of special beauty and power in what has survived from that [the classical Greek] world, it is encouraging to think that we might move beyond marveling at them, to putting them, or bits of them, to modern uses”
Ponderable:
“Thanks is not a feeling we express but a relationship into which we enter,” Maurice Brendenheim (Confessions, Volume III, p. 389, tr. R..Frotheringham)
--
Family Business:
When Steve Connor started building classical guitars, I thought he was making instruments, that is,. devices that helped other people produce beautiful art. Now, when I see his guitars, I realize they are themselves works of art. Check out his website. https://www.connorguitars.com/
And here’s a play list of performances on his guitars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKMXAm1H5n4&list=PLED303CC375F2ED36
--
Happy?
Froma Zeitlin helps with my question about the Hebrew of Psalm 1: “ he Hebrew word is ‘ashrei, which means happy. Ashrei is one of the most often repeated prayers in Jewish tradition ,,, In traditional practice, a person recites Ashrei at least three times a day – twice in the morning service and once in the afternoon service.
Thanks for your help, Froma. Ashrei!
--
More on Glob on Bogs:
In the lats Then and Now Newsletter I wondered who wrote the delightful review of “Glob on bogs…”? Andrew Bridges tells me it was his Greats tutor at Merton College Oxon., Tom Braun, , a man with a reputation for acerbic eccentricity, remarkable even by Oxford standards.
--
Forthcoming): There’ll be no December Then and Now (after all, it is a now and then newsletter), but I will keep blogging. Stay tuned, and have a happy Thanksgiving and merry holidays. Ashrei!
See you in January 2023.
Bob Connor
PS If you enjoyed this newsletter, inflict it on an unsuspecting friend.