University is Good

I get tired, angry, disappointed, and frustrated whenever I hear the tired old saw that a university education is a waste.

It goes like this: Forget science and the liberal arts (especially the liberal arts/humanities). Focus on practical, rather than intellectual, skills, forget knowledge, and train everyone to make and fix things. Take up a trade or become a health-care worker.

This mantra has been around for decades, is nonsense at best, and damaging/untrue at worst. The most recent article"Revalorizing the Trades"  is by Camille Paglia in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

A disclaimer is in order here.

I am not disparaging the trades/health fields or those who train and work in them. Trades and health workers are absolutely necessary. In many places, they are or will be in short supply. It's honest, interesting work, exactly what many people want, and the pay is good. But these vocations aren't for everyone, couldn't employ everybody, and would leave gaping holes in many other areas where we need people with a university education.

The argument for trades, especially, is so often based on incorrect assumptions. Paglia's article is no exception; she argues that "jobs, jobs, jobs" should be the primary concern for educators, but that there "is little flexibility in American higher education to allow for alternative career tracks" (alternative to the professions, in this case).

First, I would argue that a university education is training for a job, but not directly and narrowly as Paglia and others recommend. The proof is in the pudding; graduates get and keep a range of jobs for which they are uniquely suited. That proof puts the lie to the other assumption -  that a liberal arts education (and university education across the board) doesn't lead to jobs, jobs, jobs.

A university education equals jobs.  It leads to good jobs, portable jobs, interesting jobs, well-paying jobs, prestigious jobs, flexible jobs, famous jobs, creative jobs, secure jobs, necessary jobs - just about any kind of job many people could want - a Google search proves the point. Rice University (among many others)  has a document showing the myths and realities about jobs for liberal arts grads - it includes a list of fields in which grads find work (most are not in the professions).

So what exactly is the problem?

The economy is one reason. University is expensive. Job loss is a huge concern right now.

Also, nurses, electricians, carpenters who train specifically for their jobs and then find them are fairly easy to track. Politicians and administrators can point to their successes much more easily, and the concept is simpler to grasp: electrical training = electrical-field job. Easy.

People with university degrees are much harder to track in the job market, and their career paths don't translate easily to flip-chart simplicity. History major =President of the United States (Kennedy).

It's harder to track the psychology major who, ten years later, has become a tv hockey producer, or the religious studies major who is now the director of business and policy for a major tv network. The liberal arts major who works for the defence department, is CEO of a huge company, an astronaut, policy manual writer for the UN, international coordinator for a major annual charity event.

If every interesting, important, and lucrative job had a direct educational path and an accrediting body, life would be simpler. Train for job X; get job X. But it doesn't always work that way.

Plus, a university education is a value-added endeavour. Graduates are more than trained employees. Graduates form the educated citizenry that allows democracy to flourish, keeps zealots in check, and the arts, science, law, medicine flourishing. They are trained to analyze, criticize, theorize, and question.

University graduates are not only employable, they are necessary to the efficient and progressive functioning of society. The biggest expense would be not to have enough of them.

We Are the World, But Not the Norm

Turns out that you are weird; me too. As a society, we are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic - WEIRD.

This is important beyond being a simple descriptive acronym because the vast majority of psychology experiments - the ones aimed at finding the universal truth about human behaviour - are based on us. The trouble is that "96% of behavioural science experiment subjects are from Western industrialized countries, which account for just 12% of the world's population."

So why aren't we a good ruler with which to measure all of humanity?

Adam McDowell writes in the National Post about the findings of University of British Columbia researcher Joseph Henrich and his colleagues. Their research shows that we in the West are the odd ones.

Henrich and colleagues used an experiment called the Ultimatum Game, a test of altruism, and found that we Westerners do things differently than almost every other culture worldwide. Here's how the game is played:

The Ultimatum Game works like this: You are given $100 and asked to share it with someone else. You can offer that person any amount and if he accepts the offer, you each get to keep your share. If he rejects your offer, you both walk away empty-handed.

North Americans typically offer more than people from other cultures. We also reject higher offers more often as well. How we play the Ultimatum Game makes us the weird ones.

Henrich's work has far-reaching implications because so much behavioural research is based on us.  And it goes far beyond the fact that all cultures are different. Most other cultures are the same in how they play the game, and we are different, which is not a problem unless one is trying to make universal claims about human behaviour based on us.

Understandably, there is some negative reaction to these findings: we don't like to be told that we are weird. Westerners have for centuries seen themselves as the "norm" against which all others are measured.

Our W.E.I.R.D. culture may well be superior in some ways. Our culture may well be inferior in others. The research is not a judgement about the West.

When it comes to any "norm," we are not the world. When it comes to joining with the rest of the world to help each other, we are all the world.



We are the world for Pakistan and Haiti.

Some Enchanted Production

For those of us who are not night owls, the personal "off switch" means no intelligent activity beyond a certain time. For me, that time is around 10 P.M. A book, movie, or tv show has to be over-the-top compelling to keep me up much later than that.

The Lincoln Center Vivian Beaumont Theatre production of South Pacific is beyond compelling - what an awesome show!

I had fallen asleep watching Charlie Rose on Detroit PBS and awoke to singing. The singing turned out to be the Lincoln Center production on Live at Lincoln Center (Aug 18) and, always loving South Pacific, I just had to watch for a little while, which ended up being the whole show - final curtain at 1:30 A.M.(PDT).

The Rodgers and Hammerstein original Broadway production in 1949 won ten Tony Awards. Mary Martin and Enzo Pinza played the roles of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque. The story is based on James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific.

Since then, there have been several famous productions around the world.

My introduction was to the 1958 movie, starring Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi as Nellie and Emile. Probably my favourite, because it was the first.

In 2001, a made-for-tv movie starred Glenn Close and Rade Serbedzija as Nellie and Emile. Reba McEntire, Alec Baldwin, and Brian Stokes Mitchell starred in a concert version at Lincoln Center in 2005.

There have been many other concerts/productions/ travelling shows worldwide. The famous score probably guarantees further productions, as does the subject.

It's hard for any book, movie, or stage production to "bump" a previous favourite, but this most recent Broadway revival at Lincoln Center (since 2008) has almost done it for me - at the very least, this production is tied for first place. Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot make a perfect Nellie and Emile.

Yesterday was the last performance of the Lincoln Center production, which has won seven Tonys. I am so glad to have seen this.

The video is a montage of the production.



(The above link to the Lincoln Center Vivian Beaumont Theatre has a link to re-broadcast schedules for PBS and to the schedule for the travelling version.)

Smoky Days and Smoky Nights

 red areas have had no appreciable precipitation

We are on fire here in central British Columbia, not figuratively, but literally - 80 active forest fires of 10 hectares (about 25 acres) or more, burning in the district where I live and the two that border it. There are evacuation alerts and orders in many communities, and the whole central interior is blanketed in heavy smoke.

Our precipitation this summer has been next to nothing which has contributed much to the situation; plus, summer is thunderstorm season, which means many lightening strikes.The weather forecast is for continued heat, no rain, and now gusting winds. The whole province, including the central interior, is on high alert.

The situation is serious and taken very seriously. The penalties for starting a forest fire are 3 years in prison and a one million dollar fine.

Not only trees are at stake here - lives, homes, whole communities, livelihoods are in danger. There are currently several evacuation alerts/orders in place.

The dramatic photo is of a 2003 fire in Kelowna BC that burned about 200 homes.

That city faced another bad, if not as bad, fire in 2009 which burned about 20 homes.

Forest fires seem worse in the last few years. The weather has been warmer at times and drier. We also have millions of acres of trees killed by the mountain pine beetle, which leaves the trees tinder dry and, at one stage, with a turpentine-like substance in them.

I have never, until now, been at all afraid of the annual forest fires. And I am not afraid, moment to moment, now. But with the smoke so heavy in the air as a constant reminder, and the situation as bad as it is across the province, I have, for the first time, an evacuation plan written down - in part this is because I'm sure I would immediately go blank if the situation arose. It's not fancy, just a bare bones list of what to take and in what order.

For now, it is extremely unpleasant outdoors. The Air Quality Health Index for today is 10 (highest and most dangerous); some communities are at 10+. 

It's a good day to get to all those chores in the house that I have been avoiding. What a waste of a summer day, although I am thankful that we aren't facing evacuation or worse.

The Applesauce Days of August

Processing our apples is a messy job, but necessary; otherwise the fruit from two trees would go into the composter. They aren't good eating apples; they go soft quickly, so they aren't good candidates for the food bank. Somebody has to process them all quickly, and that somebody is me.
Plus, they make awesome applesauce.

Trying to give apples away is not unlike trying to give away zucchini when there are dozens and dozens everywhere.

A friend's husband once joked, about the small farm town where they lived, that he always closed the truck windows when he parked in town, no matter how hot it was. If he didn't, someone would leave zucchini on the front seat.

We are blessed with two varieties of apples, although I don't usually feel it as blessing during the picking, prepping, cooking, and putting through the food mill.

Thank heaven for food mills. Without one, I would be peeling and coring all day; the mill allows me to cut, remove both ends and that's it - into the pot they go.


The results are worth the work, even more so because we use no herbicides or pesticides on the trees.

I never use a recipe, but the applesauce is always good - a little tart, only very lightly sweetened. This year's crop will make about 20 pints for the freezer.

In the dead of winter, this tastes awfully good

Perseid Meteorite Shower

Every year, from the middle of July until the last week in August, the skies of the northern hemishpere put on a show of shooting stars that, this year, peaks in intensity today and through this weekend.

The Perseid meteors, so called because they seem to radiate from the Perseus constellation, are debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet and have been seen and noted for 2000 years.

The constellation is named after Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae, who killed the Gorgon Medusa. The constellation "looks" like Perseus with medusa's head in his hand.

The show of shooting stars will be quite spectacular this year, with nearly 90 per minute - way above the average of 60. Also, the moon will set fairly early which improves viewing. EarthSky website has information and tips for watching the show.

So, those lucky enough to have clear skies tonight can join those in observatories, on hill tops, and in backyards around the world to enjoy what is arguably THE "Starry Night" in the northern hemisphere.

A Hoarder of Interests

Sometimes I watch the shows on television about people who hoard stuff. I don't have the problem and feel sorry for those who do. But I can relate.

For decades, I carted around stuff necessary for several hobbies. I could never quite let go of the stuff or the idea that I should like the hobby, despite the fact that I sucked at it and was not truly interested.

Knitting and sewing are in that category, taken up decades ago because so many of my friends and relatives enjoyed them. And I didn't spend ten years making an afghan with all those holes in it to not have some attachment to knitting! I still have some knitting needles tucked away somewhere - you never know when a guest will come for Christmas, and I will have to make an extra stocking for under the tree - but the wool and pattern books are long gone.

I still have the very expensive, if aging, sewing machine and actually use it for curtains or mending, every once in awhile. Fortunately, I have stopped buying fabric for the possible chic outfit I could possibly, one day, create. It mattered not that neither I nor anyone else would ever wear the "outfits" I did manage to make; I had boxes of patterns, buttons, interfacing, and fabric for years.

Now, I've become a hoarder of interests. It takes up no space at all. On forms asking for a person's interests, I have a hard time not putting all these "almost" hobbies - the knitting and sewing, ceramics, making christmas ornaments, embroidery, and rock collecting. Is collecting those little bits of sea glass a separate hobby? - maybe I could have sub-categories? 

Okay, I'm lying - this is Gilles Marini, not our waiter, but you get the idea.

(Actually, perhaps I'm cheating a bit about embroidery. Years ago, a girlfriend and I took a class every Saturday morning, followed by lunch at a French bistro - there was a very sexy waiter there. We never missed a class!!!)

There is a pattern here. Mostly my hoarded interests involve crafts and probably a certain amount of residual guilt for not ever liking them. All the women I knew as a young woman, or so it seemed, were so exceptionally talented and genuinely liked these hobbies.

One friend could look at a designer sweater; then go home and make it. Another ended up taking tailoring courses and making suits and coats that sold. My mother's cross-stitch could just about be framed from either side, it is so perfect. Maybe these talented women were just too daunting for a not-very-interested dabbler.

So when those hoarders on tv have such a hard time giving up a set of knitting needles or dress pattern, I sort of know how they feel.  They are probably driven by many of the same impulses that cause me to hoard interests, even if I no longer hoard the makings for them. A little to the left or the right, and maybe it could have been me.



(photo credit - sewing machine)
(photo credit - yarn)
(photo credit - Marini)

"Fierce Poetry and a Pint of Thick Beer"

Artwork - R. Black

Sometimes, a search with totally random terms results in a surprising find. I combined the terms "Beowulf" and "banana," wondering what possible material for a post might emerge. What a treat to find a 2008 songplay Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage by a group called Banana Bag and  Bodice. Shotgun Players put it on throughout NYC and beyond in 2008 and 2009 to rave reviews.

The thousand years of baggage, according to the play's creators, is all professors' (mea culpa) contributions to the critical study of the Old English original:

Monsters and professors collide in blood-soaked Scandinavia as this hefty poem is rescued from 1,000 years of analysis and transformed into a defiantly raucous dissertation on art and violence. With an 8-piece band including dueling trombones, bass clarinet, accordion and saw, Beowulf combines Weillian cabaret, 40's jazz harmony, indie rock, punk, electronica and Romantic lieder into a cacophonous swirl.

I love the Old English poem, have studied it, read and re-read it, translated it, and written about it. The video clips I've seen of the Banana Bag and Bodice production are exciting and shine a different and important light on the poem - let's face it; how much beer and debauchery can one get across in class?!

The play seems a much better take on the classic than the recent movie. The movie with Angelina Jolie may stand on its own merits as a movie, or not, but does a disservice to the great work of art that the poem Beowulf is. Banana Bag and Bodice adds something that needs adding.

The video clip is of King Hrothgar lamenting is fate, what with the decimation of his Danes for twelve winters by Grendel. (Some might find some of the language offensive.)



(The title of this post if from the Banana Bag and Bodice write-up of the play.)

Broccoli and Me

A current ad on television for calcium supplements shows women trying to eat pounds of salmon and broccoli and whole big bowls full of almonds in an attempt to get enough calcium without taking a supplement. And, while the ad is truthful about the amount of these three foodstuffs required to meet daily requirements, it ignores the dozens of other foods that can contribute throughout the day to the total.

Truth is, it's not that difficult.

For the past five days, I have given up taking calcium supplements in response to a recent study which found that it increases the risk of heart attack by 25 - 30 percent.

I have managed to meet the daily requirement for calcium entirely through diet. It's been interesting, sometimes frustrating, and ultimately okay.

But it does require planning and some caution.

First, correct information is important and sometimes surprisingly hard to find. For instance, I have found values for broccoli ranging from 62 mg./cup, cooked to 180 mg./cup, cooked.  That's a huge discrepancy. Too many of those discrepancies over the course of a day would be really significant. The USDA has a nutrient database which lists many individual nutrients. I've chosen it as my reliable resource.

Another obstacle to getting the correct information is typos and poor copy-editing. In one book, the value for 1/2 C of cooked spinach differs on the same page! Not helpful. And not unusual.

Second, the whole endeavour is time consuming, although it is already less so after only five days. Looking up everything is a pain, as is looking it all up again and again until it's firmly in the memory! Also, keeping track takes time.  But practice makes perfect, and the time spent will diminish.

Third, the whole configuration of my diet has shifted. Initially, I was simply adding calcium-rich foods, and calories. Now, I'm figuring out how to incorporate what I need, rather than just tacking on.

Fourth, there's a cultural aspect to this experiment. It strikes me as odd that eating real food to get enough nutrients has become more unusual that taking a supplement. I think advertising has done a number on us. Lack of education about diet is a culprit, too, as are the fast food and processed food industries.

And sometimes we would rather believe the nutritional flapdoodle of a hack trying to make money, than take the time to learn enough to make sure that we and our children are properly nourished.

I'm sticking with this, with the proviso that I will take a supplement on the odd day when I just don't get enough calcium. The study doesn't really scare me, but did make me realize how my attitudes towards food and supplements has not so subtly shifted (and I'm not liking it so much).

Those who require supplements should take them (although I would check with the doc). Otherwise, with some education and some time invested, we could just eat, enjoy, and be nourished.

Pass the broccoli!


(The consensus among commenters on my post about this study was that these things change over time, or are poorly designed and wrong, etc. Here is the link to the actual study in the British Medical Journal. I've
waded through, and there are a couple of important facts that the media largely ignored. Perhaps most important, the study did not include any calcium supplements taken along with Vitamin D. Also, there were no tests of calcium supplements taken as part of a supplement complex.)

Banning the Beatles

Thirty-four years ago today began the ban of all Beatles music on U.S. radio stations. Just as the group was to begin its U.S. tour in August, radio station after radio station joined the growing ban on playing their music.

America was not alone; banning the Beatles was a very popular thing to do. At least one radio station in South Africa, Spain, Holland, and Israel, to name a few, joined in at different times and because of different songs. The BBC even got into the act, banning songs for supposedly promoting drug culture and including the name of a brand. Israel also banned the fab four from playing there until 2008 - the "unbanning" and apology coming a bit late in the day!

The ban in the U.S. resulted , mostly, from John Lennon's statement to the London Evening Standard, on Mar 4/66.

Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.

John  was largely misunderstood, and many reacted in knee-jerk fashion. John defends himself and explains:



The passage of time changes all things. The Beatles' popularity has faded from its days of glory. Is anyone that popular today?

Mainstream Steam

Those magnificent men in their flying machines (and their machines) have been the subject of songs, poetry, movies, and near worship. They still are for a some and engender great awe, fascination, role-playing, even obsession.

Steampunk is the name for this awe, and according to Gary Moskowitz ("What's with Steampunk?" in More Intelligent Life) it has gone mainstream. Some of Moskowitz's commenters believe it's become so mainstream that it isn't even worth an article about it!

Steampunk (for anyone else out there who, like me, is out of the loop!):

 is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes fictional works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era Britain — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, often featuring futuristic technology as the people of this historical period would have envisioned it to look like, i.e. based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer, but occurring at an earlier date. (Wikipedia.)

I used to be quite fascinated with Jules Verne's stories when I was younger, but somehow managed to miss this, now almost passe, subculture, with its anthologies of fiction, magazines, comics, websites, workshops, and seminars!

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines isn't steampunk, but sort of heads there, and I love the song.




(photo credit - steampunk scooter control panel)