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Don’t crossword puzzles take some time?
Bird Droppings June 18, 2025Don’t crossword puzzles take some time? Towards the end of my last college history class, one of my students was working on a particular assignment and had to define bias. She was unsure which definition was correct and asked for my opinion. I explained that historical bias is that of the…
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Learning and teaching are not the same, yet they intertwine.
Bird Droppings June 16, 2025Learning and teaching are not the same, yet they intertwine. “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.” Dr. Mortimer J. Adler Dr. Adler founded the Center for the Study of…
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Today should always be the first day.
Bird Droppings June 14, 2025Today should always be the first day. Over the past several weeks, we have been cleaning out our storage buildings. It is a slow, tedious process of finding things we have not seen in twenty or more years. I found a briefcase with my bank statements from 1973-76 or so in…
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What is this desire for freedom?
Bird Droppings June 12, 2025What is this desire for freedom? “Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom and dignity. It is not enough, as communist systems have assumed, merely to provide people with food, shelter, and clothing. Human nature needs to breathe the precious air of…
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Why is seeking peace so difficult?
Bird Droppings June 10, 2025Why is seeking peace so difficult? Around the world, armies are moving as I write. There are missiles being aimed and tanks rolling. War is a profit-driven machine for industry, and sadly, it is more about money than ideology. I have always been against war and have always felt that there…
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Should we be pondering the idea of faith?
Bird Droppings June 9, 2015Should we be pondering the idea of faith? I have been indirectly involved in several discussions lately involving the word faith. So I did a bit of research and thinking. “Modern technology advanced in such tiny increments for so long that we never realized how much our world was being altered,…
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Are we missing Creativity?
Bird Droppings June 6, 2025Are we missing Creativity? Today was another quiet morning; as I wandered out and about, birds hiding from view were already calling—the crickets and frogs, as always, a beautiful chorus for the morning awakening. Yesterday, several tree frogs visited our back porch, hiding under pots and a baseball cap. The air…
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Teaching can be successful.
Bird Droppings June , 2025Teaching can be successful. When I am home, I try to walk out to a quiet corner of my backyard; a couple of weeks ago, I walked two miles on the beach at Pawleys Island. Even at the beach, strands of spider webbing are still hanging, connecting everything. The scientist, part…
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It takes more than one strand to make a rope.
Bird Droppings June 4, 2025It takes more than one strand to make a rope. I opened a Matthew Fox daily meditation, which was based on Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk. Merton’s words were of his Celtic heritage and his grandmother’s family name, Bird. I found it interesting as I know my grandmother’s family came from…
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Translating and communicating
Bird droppings June 3, 2025Translating and communicating “Scientific management is always on guard against people who don’t fit securely into boxes, whether because of too much competency, too much creativity, too much popularity, or what have you. Although often hired, it is with the understanding they must be kept on a short leash and regarded…
The daily meanderings of a teacher 