Note from Pamela: Did you know that there are over 200 statues of Abraham Lincoln in the United States? (Only four are on the west coast.) Malena, who I tutor in history and the humanities (literature, philosophy, art) fell in love with Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ statue of Lincoln. So…I suggested she research the story behind the artist and his statue. The following post is what Malena learned. In the coming weeks, stay tuned for two more stories about two more Lincoln statues. “The Standing Lincoln” or “Lincoln, the Man” by Augustus Saint-Gaudens Located in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois Dedicated on 10/22/1887 ****************** My Favorite Lincoln by Malena Ani Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born…
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Teatime Keeps the Grumpies Away
This year you will be seeing some Guest Posts by Malena, who Natalie and I tutored in math and humanities last year. She is in ninth grade this year and I have the good fortune to still be her humanities tutor… and to have regular teatimes with her 🙂 Here is an article she wrote about our teatimes in the past: Teatime Keeps the Grumpies Away (it really does) by Malena On Mondays and Fridays, when I have math and humanities lessons with Natalie and Pamela, we almost always have teatime. Usually, we have tea in the afternoon after math and before humanities. We always have Assam or Organic Breakfast…
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Older = Wiser?
People of a certain age group 🙂 get frustrated when we sometimes can’t remember a word or name or place when we know we know… So frustrating! It can feel like we are sitting in the Blackstone Chair and can’t remember the answer to the question we know we know! Indeed, research shows that cognitive function slows as people age. But, guess what? Speed isn’t everything. A recent study pointed out that older people have much more information in their brains than younger ones. Retrieving it takes longer. But while younger people are faster in tests of cognitive performance, older people show “greater sensitivity to fine grained differences” (Topics in…
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Skipping Middle School Taught Us…
It’s been six years since our family made the bold decision to “skip middle school” and home school Natalie during her 7th and 8th grade years. At the time, some people questioned our judgement. One mother asked, “What about high school? If you do this, won’t Natalie have a hard time getting into a good school?” Yet others expressed their envy and support. One man confided, “I’m still recovering from middle school. If only I could have skipped it.” Natalie and I took notes during our two years and then we wrote our story about the fears we faced and overcame, the trust (and schoolhouse) we built together, the “Professor-Daddy”…
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Our Kitchen Leads to Oatmeal Cookies!
Our kitchen is yellow and orange, warm like the sunlight that streams through the windows at five o’clock on a Saturday afternoon and hits the side of my face as I sit at the table, puzzling over a quadratic equation or flourishing a green highlighter over Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. My dad sits at the table, reading BBC History Magazine, a Beethoven piano concerto or a Brahms serenade playing in the background. He taps a finger against the page in time to the music, every so often looking up to share with my mom and me an interesting fact he has just read. My…
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Sherlock Holmes Meets the Amazing Mary Russell
I met mystery author Laurie R. King during the production of Mysterious California, my parents’ 2008 documentary. Now, five years later, I have discovered Ms. King’s wonderful Mary Russell series. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice begins the series with 15-year-old Mary Russell meeting the retired Sherlock Holmes in 1915. The two immediately become a team. Mary Russell is inquisitive, clever, and recently orphaned; Holmes is in desperate need of a mind equal to his in logic and deduction. Soon, they are travelling across England, first to solve the mysterious illness of a wealthy neighbor, then on the trail of a kidnapper, and finally to solve their most difficult case of all, one that…
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Peeking Inside Windows & Frames
Summer of 1990, New York — Our documentary film budget was tight and so we were staying in a budget hotel. The hotel’s one redeeming feature was a fantastic Italian restaurant on the adjoining corner. After a delicious dinner, we dreaded returning to our tiny room that demonstrated the owner’s utter lack of interest in decoration. To top it off, it was a hot and muggy night and the room had no air-conditioning. We didn’t dare turn on the overhead light. William stretched out on the bed. I took off a layer of clothing and sat in my slip, as close to the open window as possible. Across the street, no…
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LISTEN & SILENT Have the Same Letters
Seth S. Horowitz, an auditory neuroscientist at Brown University wrote an article for the NY Times titled “The Science and Art of Listening (11/11/12), which caught my eye (and ear). He says, “’You never listen’ is not just the complaint of a problematic relationship.” In fact: “Listening is a skill that we’re in danger of losing in a world of digital distraction and information overload. And yet we dare not lose it.” Why? “Listening tunes our brain to the patterns of our environment faster than any other sense… ” And, listening, he points out helpfully, can benefit our relationships: “Listen to your significant other’s voice – not only to the…
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A Surprising Witness to the End of the Civil War
After a trip to Charleston, South Carolina in the spring of my eighth grade year, I wrote about what I had learned about the Civil War both from our trip and reading non-fiction and fiction texts about the tumultuous time. One text was a storybook titled “The Silent Witness: A True Story of the Civil War” (written by Robin Friedman and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola), which is the amazing story of a rag doll, who ended up being a surprising witness to the end of the war. Here’s an excerpt from my writing: The end of the war came in a small town in Virginia called Appomattox Courthouse, in…
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Rembrandt’s Diary
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Until recently, when I would hear somebody mention Rembrandt, only one thing came to mind, “Oh yes, the artist.” That was all I knew: Rembrandt was an artist in another place at another time. Then I took a class at The Getty Center titled, “Becoming Rembrandt: Exploring The Man, The Myth, and The Legend.” Beneath the surface of every creation, whether music, writing, or art, there are always stories. Sometimes these stories aren’t apparent, but every so often they jump out at you immediately. This is the case with Rembrandt’s paintings. Take one glance at one of his portraits and you immediately get the feel of…
