- So Many Hands to Hold in the Classroom– An article in the Chronicle about a trend observed by the instructor wherein students increasingly struggle to formulate their own opinions and paper topics, as well as the problem of administrators and instructors buying in to the idea that there needs to be set cirricula in order for the education to be meaningful or comparable to other schools. As usual, I agree with the author.
- The Contested Color of Christ– An article from the Chronicle about the history of the image of Jesus within the issue of race in the United States. For the most part it is just narrative, and somewhat shallow at that, but it brings up some good points.
- The Invention of Political Consulting– A new article in the New Yorker that looks at the development of political consulting in the modern sense. The author traces political consulting back to a California gubernatorial race against Upton Sinclair. She also makes the case that modern advertising developed from political advising, rather than the other way around. I am not sure that I agree with everything here, but it is an interesting read and gives some things to think about during this election season.
- Ninjas keep patrons in line at London cinema– Something I heard on Wait-Wait Don’t Tell Me (this week was an amazing show, I recommend it), a London cinema is using volunteer ninjas to combat cell phones in the theater.
- Jesus cites wife in fourth-century script, says US scholar– A scholar of Christianity at Harvard recently translated a papyrus fragment written in Coptic that likely dates to the fourth century in which there is a record of Jesus referring to his wife (Mary). This is the only piece of (presumed) scripture that explicitly refers to Jesus having a wife. Unfortunately, the exact origin of the fragment, including what larger work it belonged to, is unknown.
As always, comments encouraged. What else is out there?
Noodlings 