Greetings All!
2022 has come and (almost) gone, and as I sit down to try to assemble a semi-entertaining missive, I'm struck primarily by how much I'm hurting for decent material. Paige and I spent some time in Vegas and Death Valley in January and 10 days in Maine in June, but the rest of the year seems simply to have vanished. Like they say, time flies when you're having fun old.
Reagan and Hunter still have the same software engineer gigs they had last year (knock on wood). They moved out of their respective apartments in March and are renting a house together in north Austin. Cheaper, a lot more room, and they get along well enough to make it work. Hadley continues to be a Good Neighbor for State Farm in College Station. She played rec softball and soccer this year and came up for a football and basketball game in November, which was terrific. Hollis is halfway through his second year at Texas A&M and has decided to major in Accounting. He'll be interning with Alvarez & Marsal (a global consulting firm) in Dallas this summer. We got the band back together for Thanksgiving in College Station, which was swell, and everybody will be up here for Christmas. WooHoo!
Lower Education, Part 1
Last week, Paige pointed me to an article indicating that the basic algebra requirement might be eliminated for all state universities in Kansas. The fact that 1/3 of undergraduates fail the class (which most people take as high school freshmen) has led some parties to conclude that it might be an unnecessary roadblock ... and that maybe individual departments / majors should be able to decide what (if any??) math should be required. Quantitative fields generally require some form of calculus. What might be the new requirement elsewhere? Number lines? Or maybe remedial counting (not beyond two digits, of course, so as to ensure success)?
As an interesting counterpoint, I recently got a card from a MAcc student who had never made a B in her entire life until she made one in my class this semester. Among other things, she said that she thought it was "... only right to write this note to you after the semester I had. You taught me resilience, whether you meant to or not. I was constantly challenged in your course (in a good way) and after a few kicks to the ego I learned to adapt and continue." Hmmm, perhaps pushing people and helping them grow is a reasonable alternative to eliminating standards and distributing participation trophies (errr ... degrees)?
Lower Education, Part 2
For the past few years, I've suggested a list of words that I think should be prohibited either because they no longer have meaning or because they've just become annoying. I was going to do the same again this year, highlighting gems like "headwinds," "spaces," and "process" ... but instead I've decided to point you to the new list of prohibited words put together by the good folks at Stanford University. The main difference, of course, is that my list is good whereas their list is nonsensical.
The Stanford List is 12 pages (single-spaced) long and includes reasons for why the offending words should no longer be used. For example, one can no longer "master" something (presumably, master's degrees will become a thing of the past) because "historically, masters enslaved people." It also is not OK to use the phrase "beat a dead horse" because that "normalizes violence against animals." One should not use the word "blackballed" because it assigns negative connotations to the color black (despite the fact that the word originated in the 1700s when people cast "against" votes by placing a black ball in a ballot box), nor should one use the word "ballsy" because doing so attributes personality traits to anatomy. Using "trigger warning" is now also out of bounds (never mind that it was similar-thinking geniuses who developed the phrase in the first place) because the mere utterance of these words evidently can "cause stress about what is to follow." I am not making that up.
Hey, instead of arbitrarily restructuring the English language every five seconds, how 'bout we all just put on our big boy panties ... sorry ... "big person panties" ... oh, wait ... not "big" either ... hmmm ... "mature??" ... no, that's probably age-ist ... sigh ... and apparently "panties," at least according to The Atlantic, is either sexualized or infantilized (choose your fighter, please) ... so ... maybe ... put on our person-having-reached-the-age-of-majority undergarm-- ... wait, what were we talking about?
Book Recommendations
As usual, I'll bypass all of the old stuff I read this year and make my recommendations from a list of authors who are a bit more recent. First, after reading a couple things for the first time and revisiting a few other things, I'm firmer than ever in my conviction that Neil Gaiman is the best author from the past 50 years ... yes, including Cormac McCarthy (although it's a photo-finish). If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Gaiman's work, you might begin with shorter pieces like Coraline (no, it's not really a children's book) and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, but I could also see jumping straight to Neverwhere (which I have recommended before) or American Gods. You can't go wrong, regardless. Second, you should consider The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd. It's a terrific example of how a compelling story can compensate for writing that is sometimes clumsy. Finally, I'll recommend a newish translation of the Poetic Edda (Old Norse narrative poems) by Jackson Crawford - a PhD cowboy formerly at the University of Colorado (now freelancing) who has a YouTube channel devoted to All Things Old Norse. If you're into that kind of thing at all, you should give him a look-see.
Music Recommendations
In the music department, I have three noteworthy discoveries from 2022. First, Beach Bunny manages to channel (periodically) a late 80s college band vibe that I really like. Here is a representative example. The other two artists I'll recommend are, oddly enough, both from Iceland. Eydis Evensen in a pianist / crafter of haunting melodies, while Laufey is a jazz vocalist / multi-instrumentalist (piano / cello / guitar / who knows what else?) in her early 20s who sounds like she has been doing things for a whole lot longer. You can see them in action here and here, respectively. Laufey's clip is short and sort of random, but gives you a bare bones idea of what she's capable of. She recently released an album with full orchestra and such that you definitely should check out (Everything I Know About Love), and if you would like a little of her very own special Christmas cheer you can click here. Go ahead. If you have any taste at all, you will not be disappointed.
Video Recommendations
Longtime readers know that pretty much the only things we watch are foreign mysteries. With that as the backdrop, I heartily recommend Astrid, Dalgliesh, Raven, The Ipcress File, A Murder of Crows, and Sherwood. Not all of these shows were produced this year, but that's when we found them. Outside the mystery set is the new (as opposed to 1970s) production of All Creatures Great and Small, which is about as wholesome as you can get.
Random Discoveries
Finally, here are some random, yet noteworthy, discoveries from 2022.
Magazine: New Criterion
Produce: Cosmic Crisp (apples)
Men's shoes: Crockett & Jones
Dresses: Nora Gardner
Cookie recipe: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal
Coffee beans: Medici Roasting
Bible translation: English Standard (coming from a longtime KJV fan)
Watch straps: Wolbrook (rubber) and Bas & Lokes (leather)
Meat: Wild Idea Buffalo (ground and links are great; steaks are spotty)
KC hotel: The Inn at Meadowbrook
Closing Christmas Cheer
A couple weeks ago, students were asking why I didn't have a photo ornament on their tree in the MAcc lounge. I told them it was because I'm not cool enough to have an office in the suite with the people who actually run the MAcc program (and who do have ornaments on the tree). They said I should make a star and hang it myself, so ...
It doesn't dance in the night or have a tail as big as a kite, but it was good for a few laughs.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and God Bless!
Mike and Paige
mw0705@gmail.com
lpaigefields@gmail.com
1118 Brynwood Court
Lawrence, KS 66049
