Broadly speaking, there are two schools of thought regarding Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. One holds that its portrayal and treatment of Shylock, the Jewish antagonist, marks it as an anti-Semitic play. The other posits that since Shakespeare most likely never met a real Jew on whom to even unconsciously base Shylock (Jews had been expelled from England centuries before), and since the Jew as buffoon was a stock character in contemporary Elizabethan theater, the first theory is bunk. A subset of the latter view even contends that Shylock is actually a sympathetic character.
Personally, I find that all compelling scholarship points to the conclusion that The Merchant of Venice is not anti-Semitic. Nevertheless, I am always interested to see others' take on the play, so it was with great interest that I sat down to watch the 2004 movie version last week. Directed by Michael Radford, it stars Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Irons as the titular Antonio. Al Pacino, though he achieved fame for roles like Michael Corleone and Tony Montana, is actually a perceptive Shakespearean actor. His 1996 documentary Looking For Richard, an adaptation of Richard III, remains perhaps my favorite film version of a Shakespeare play.
To oversimplify things, there are two key scenes for figuring out where actors and directors stand on The Merchant of Venice and its alleged anti-Semitism. The first is Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes" speech in Act III, and the second is the trial scene at the end of the play. Pacino's Shylock is a beaten, bitter moneylender who doesn't speak his lines so much as hurl them, and his seminal Act III speech is dripping with virulence and vindictiveness. This carries through unabated to the end of the play. Shylock gleefully rebuffs all offers of alternative, increased compensation as he prepares to extract from the Christian Antonio his long-awaited pound of flesh. He makes ready to sink his knife into Antonio's chest when Balthazar (really Portia in disguise) points out that he is entitled only to the flesh and not to any blood, effectively torpedoing Shylock's revenge.
Throughout the movie, Shylock is nearly buried under the derision and scorn that are heaped upon him. This and his response--bloodthirsty vengefulness--demonstrate that the film considers its source text anti-Semitic. Though I think this is ultimately an error--this play is no more anti-Semitic than The Winter's Tale endorses domestic violence--I am nevertheless curious to see what Radford and Pacino do when they team up for King Lear, which IMDB reports is in pre-production.
About Me
- Robert
- I'm a 2009 graduate of Dartmouth College who loves Jesus, my wife and all things Northeast.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Clinical II winds down
Clinical II concludes today, marking the end of the second of five clinical phases of my paramedic program. In addition to three emergency department shifts, this clinical saw us rotate through the central emergency dispatching center. We would have gone through the stroke center during Clinical II as well, but now-resolved accreditation issues on the part of the hospital postponed the stroke center to Clinical III.
I find the clinical rotations incredibly rewarding. Practicing our skills on manikins in the lab is fine, but there's nothing like actually performing the skills on live patients. In addition to being more realistic--I've never seen a rubber IV arm with rolling veins--there's a psychological element to treating real people that can't be simulated in a lab. Beyond that, there's just no substitute for experience, and I'm finding that I gain confidence and proficiency in my skills much more rapidly during clinicals than in the lab.
I've been reading a spate of marriage books recently, and while each has offered pearls of wisdom, my favorite was Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages. If you haven't read it, I'd recommend picking it up. Married couples stand to reap the maximum benefit, obviously, but there's a good portion of the book that can be applied to better understanding non-marital relationships as well.
From the I-can't-believe-they-got-a-grant-to-study-this file, a recently concluded Australian study suggested that the more hours you spend watching television every day, the likelier you are to die from heart disease. Downright earth-shattering news.
I find the clinical rotations incredibly rewarding. Practicing our skills on manikins in the lab is fine, but there's nothing like actually performing the skills on live patients. In addition to being more realistic--I've never seen a rubber IV arm with rolling veins--there's a psychological element to treating real people that can't be simulated in a lab. Beyond that, there's just no substitute for experience, and I'm finding that I gain confidence and proficiency in my skills much more rapidly during clinicals than in the lab.
I've been reading a spate of marriage books recently, and while each has offered pearls of wisdom, my favorite was Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages. If you haven't read it, I'd recommend picking it up. Married couples stand to reap the maximum benefit, obviously, but there's a good portion of the book that can be applied to better understanding non-marital relationships as well.
From the I-can't-believe-they-got-a-grant-to-study-this file, a recently concluded Australian study suggested that the more hours you spend watching television every day, the likelier you are to die from heart disease. Downright earth-shattering news.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The decline of newspapers
Is a probable predicament per prognosticating, perspicacious pundits. Indeed, "p" words aside, newspapers have been in bad shape for some time now. Circulation, advertising and overall revenues across the industry have suffered a sustained fall. The New York Times affirmed the gravity of the situation yesterday when it announced that starting in 2011, online readers would be able to access a limited number of articles before having to pay to continue, a step mirrored by few other newspapers.
Is this finally the death knell for newspapers? It's unlikely. Newspapers are a tenacious breed. Though I personally have doubts about their long-term prospects, extinction is still a long way off. For starters, no one knows how readers will respond to the Times's online subscription program. It may be a success, in which case newspapers nationwide would have a new model for financial resiliency.
Furthermore, newspapers are well aware that they struggle to keep pace with television and Internet news outlets. They are also aware, however, that this actually leaves them occupying a relatively uncrowded niche. The frenetic pace with which electronic media produce news often means that the depth and overall quality of the reporting suffers. The quest for immediacy sometimes claims distance and perspective as victims.
Newspaper reporters frequently find themselves working on deadlines measured in hours instead of minutes. This affords them more time to work on their stories and frequently leads to better-contextualized articles with a firmer grasp of the big picture. Are there exceptions to this generalization? Of course there are. On the whole, though, newspapers occupy an important, even irreplaceable place in public life. And if they do someday go by the wayside, it will almost assuredly be due to economics and not any intrinsic fatal flaw.
In other news, U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura drew his game today at the Corus tournament in Wijk Aan Zee against the number-one rated player in the world, Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Said Carlsen in a postgame interview, "In a short time Hikaru has become one of my main rivals." And did I mention they are twenty two and nineteen years old, respectively?
Is this finally the death knell for newspapers? It's unlikely. Newspapers are a tenacious breed. Though I personally have doubts about their long-term prospects, extinction is still a long way off. For starters, no one knows how readers will respond to the Times's online subscription program. It may be a success, in which case newspapers nationwide would have a new model for financial resiliency.
Furthermore, newspapers are well aware that they struggle to keep pace with television and Internet news outlets. They are also aware, however, that this actually leaves them occupying a relatively uncrowded niche. The frenetic pace with which electronic media produce news often means that the depth and overall quality of the reporting suffers. The quest for immediacy sometimes claims distance and perspective as victims.
Newspaper reporters frequently find themselves working on deadlines measured in hours instead of minutes. This affords them more time to work on their stories and frequently leads to better-contextualized articles with a firmer grasp of the big picture. Are there exceptions to this generalization? Of course there are. On the whole, though, newspapers occupy an important, even irreplaceable place in public life. And if they do someday go by the wayside, it will almost assuredly be due to economics and not any intrinsic fatal flaw.
In other news, U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura drew his game today at the Corus tournament in Wijk Aan Zee against the number-one rated player in the world, Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Said Carlsen in a postgame interview, "In a short time Hikaru has become one of my main rivals." And did I mention they are twenty two and nineteen years old, respectively?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Score one for the book
Over the weekend I completed the title in my project to read the book, watch the movie and decide which one I like better for as many Best Picture winners as possible. After finishing No Country For Old Men, the written word has finally scored a decisive victory. (I'm giving credit to The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and The Silence of the Lambs.)
I loved the book, and I had high hopes for the movie, but I found that it just didn't bring the story to life the way I'd hoped. The directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, overall did an admirable job of staying faithful to Cormac McCarthy's text. Nevertheless, there were several omissions in the movie that bugged me. (NOTE: If you have not read/seen this title, you may wish to skip straight to "In other news.")
The opening chase scene is markedly compressed on celluloid as compared to paper. Part of what makes this scene so compelling in the novel is that it takes a long time to play out. It is impossible to create the same level of suspense in forty five seconds as in upwards of two dozen pages. Similarly, the cinematic rendition of the shootout at the hotel near the border omits the involvement of the Mexican drug runners. That scene was as much about establishing Chigurh's tactical bona fides as it was about the face-to-face confrontation with Moss, so this was not a minor oversight.
Lastly, the scene in which Chigurh returns the money to its owner is absent from the film (perhaps because the Coen brothers decided the Mexicans, and not Chigurh, should be the ones to kill Moss). Though it passes quickly in the book, it is perhaps the single most revealing moment in the story, for it explains Chigurh's involvement in the whole affair.
Under the weight of these questionable directorial decisions, the movie struggled to attain both the character depth and especially the suspense level that ran so high throughout the book. If I decide to revisit this story in the future, I'll head for the bookshelf. Current score: Books 1, Movies 3.
In other news, LeBron James has reneged on his promise to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest over the NBA's All-Star Weekend. With Dwight Howard also absent, defending champion Nate Robinson will have a much clearer path as he vies for an unprecedented third dunk title.
I loved the book, and I had high hopes for the movie, but I found that it just didn't bring the story to life the way I'd hoped. The directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, overall did an admirable job of staying faithful to Cormac McCarthy's text. Nevertheless, there were several omissions in the movie that bugged me. (NOTE: If you have not read/seen this title, you may wish to skip straight to "In other news.")
The opening chase scene is markedly compressed on celluloid as compared to paper. Part of what makes this scene so compelling in the novel is that it takes a long time to play out. It is impossible to create the same level of suspense in forty five seconds as in upwards of two dozen pages. Similarly, the cinematic rendition of the shootout at the hotel near the border omits the involvement of the Mexican drug runners. That scene was as much about establishing Chigurh's tactical bona fides as it was about the face-to-face confrontation with Moss, so this was not a minor oversight.
Lastly, the scene in which Chigurh returns the money to its owner is absent from the film (perhaps because the Coen brothers decided the Mexicans, and not Chigurh, should be the ones to kill Moss). Though it passes quickly in the book, it is perhaps the single most revealing moment in the story, for it explains Chigurh's involvement in the whole affair.
Under the weight of these questionable directorial decisions, the movie struggled to attain both the character depth and especially the suspense level that ran so high throughout the book. If I decide to revisit this story in the future, I'll head for the bookshelf. Current score: Books 1, Movies 3.
In other news, LeBron James has reneged on his promise to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest over the NBA's All-Star Weekend. With Dwight Howard also absent, defending champion Nate Robinson will have a much clearer path as he vies for an unprecedented third dunk title.
Winter fun
But first, I want to add my voice to the chorus of support sounding for those affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti this past week. Vocal support is not sufficient, however, and I entreat you to lend whatever support your circumstances permit, be it financial, material or prayer.
Things are stable here in Western New York, thankfully, seismologically and otherwise. Paramedic school resumed this afternoon after a brief recess for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and we continue our breakneck pace toward the end of the program. We have two more weeks of Ambulance Operations and then it's on to Pediatric Advanced Life Support, which will take most of February. It's hard to believe that the state certification exam is seven months from today!
The highlight of the weekend was Ellen coming to visit. We got to spend nearly four days together, which was absolutely wonderful. Yesterday we went sledding at Chestnut Ridge Park, which was a first for both of us. The long, steep hill certainly makes for good sledding! A brief video of the wintry fun is below. If you can't view the video, try using Firefox as your browser. If that still doesn't work, click here for the Youtube version.
Things are stable here in Western New York, thankfully, seismologically and otherwise. Paramedic school resumed this afternoon after a brief recess for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and we continue our breakneck pace toward the end of the program. We have two more weeks of Ambulance Operations and then it's on to Pediatric Advanced Life Support, which will take most of February. It's hard to believe that the state certification exam is seven months from today!
The highlight of the weekend was Ellen coming to visit. We got to spend nearly four days together, which was absolutely wonderful. Yesterday we went sledding at Chestnut Ridge Park, which was a first for both of us. The long, steep hill certainly makes for good sledding! A brief video of the wintry fun is below. If you can't view the video, try using Firefox as your browser. If that still doesn't work, click here for the Youtube version.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Medical marijuana
Yesterday New Jersey became the fourteenth state to legalize so-called "medical marijuana." Under the new law, doctors will be able to prescribe marijuana for patients suffering from conditions like cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Marijuana's analgesic and antiemetic properties are well known throughout the medical community, and evidently it can help slow the progression of neuralgia as well.
Much of the negativity connoted with medical marijuana use stems from California's experience with the practice. Unfortunately, that experiment backfired when the list of conditions for which marijuana can be prescribed ballooned to include such common ailments as anxiety and chronic pain, which made marijuana more or less accessible to the entire population. New Jersey lawmakers appear to have been paying attention to California's mistake, however. They set a specific, limited list of conditions for which patients may be prescribed marijuana, as well as a relatively low maximum monthly dose they may receive.
There are still some opponents of this new law who maintain that will increase the pressure teenagers feel to begin experimenting with drugs, but this is a fairly uncompelling argument. As far as pain relievers go, marijuana is not nearly as potent as some of the opioids currently in circulation. There is no reason to think that people will begin preying on the infirm to steal their marijuana. Anyone inclined to do this would probably be too busy trying to rob other patients of their morphine to pay any attention to the cancer patient with a marijuana prescription. The potential for fraud is also considerably lower under this law than in other states, due to the extremely restrictive list of qualifying conditions. No one is going to contract AIDS or Lou Gehrig's disease just to score two ounces of marijuana a month, and patients are not allowed to grow the marijuana themselves, either.
All in all, New Jersey seems to have put a lot of thought into making sure that medical marijuana finds its way only into the hands of the people who need it. Hopefully this new law will play out as well as it looks like it should, and if so, perhaps this will be a model for other states to follow.
Much of the negativity connoted with medical marijuana use stems from California's experience with the practice. Unfortunately, that experiment backfired when the list of conditions for which marijuana can be prescribed ballooned to include such common ailments as anxiety and chronic pain, which made marijuana more or less accessible to the entire population. New Jersey lawmakers appear to have been paying attention to California's mistake, however. They set a specific, limited list of conditions for which patients may be prescribed marijuana, as well as a relatively low maximum monthly dose they may receive.
There are still some opponents of this new law who maintain that will increase the pressure teenagers feel to begin experimenting with drugs, but this is a fairly uncompelling argument. As far as pain relievers go, marijuana is not nearly as potent as some of the opioids currently in circulation. There is no reason to think that people will begin preying on the infirm to steal their marijuana. Anyone inclined to do this would probably be too busy trying to rob other patients of their morphine to pay any attention to the cancer patient with a marijuana prescription. The potential for fraud is also considerably lower under this law than in other states, due to the extremely restrictive list of qualifying conditions. No one is going to contract AIDS or Lou Gehrig's disease just to score two ounces of marijuana a month, and patients are not allowed to grow the marijuana themselves, either.
All in all, New Jersey seems to have put a lot of thought into making sure that medical marijuana finds its way only into the hands of the people who need it. Hopefully this new law will play out as well as it looks like it should, and if so, perhaps this will be a model for other states to follow.
McGwire comes clean
In the latest chapter of baseball's ongoing steroids saga, Mark McGwire, the former baseball player who shattered Roger Maris's single-season home run record by hitting seventy home runs in 1998, admitted yesterday that he used steroids for a decade leading up to and including his record-breaking year. He had previously acknowledged using androstenedione, but that was not a banned substance at the time. This news is disillusioning, if not entirely surprising. After all, have you seen the size of the man's arms?
As far as the impact on the single-season home run record, things are unclear. Barry Bonds, who broke McGwire's record with seventy three home runs in 2001, is also beleaguered with allegations of steroid use. According to Yahoo! Sports, the Maris family feels that Roger's total of sixty one home runs in 1961 should be restored as the official single-season record. Although Sammy Sosa has also surpassed Maris's single-season total--he hit sixty six home runs in 1998, the same year that McGwire hit seventy--he too tested positive for steroids, according to the 2003 anonymous survey conducted by Major League Baseball that came to light last year.
Will Major League Baseball make any official adjustment to the record? It's unlikely. For starters, it has not been proven that Bonds actually used steroids (though I suspect that's just a matter of time) or that Sosa was using steroids in 1998. More than that, though, the league is extremely reticent when it comes to revising records, most likely due to "slippery slope" concerns. If they change one record, they'll soon be flooded with requests to change them all. Then again, video replay on home run calls has begun to undermine the traditional inviolability of an umpire's ruling, so perhaps more change is in the wind.
In other news, Dartmouth men's basketball head coach Terry Dunn resigned last Friday. He had amassed a 47-103 record over six years with the team. The search for his replacement is ongoing. Go Big Green!
As far as the impact on the single-season home run record, things are unclear. Barry Bonds, who broke McGwire's record with seventy three home runs in 2001, is also beleaguered with allegations of steroid use. According to Yahoo! Sports, the Maris family feels that Roger's total of sixty one home runs in 1961 should be restored as the official single-season record. Although Sammy Sosa has also surpassed Maris's single-season total--he hit sixty six home runs in 1998, the same year that McGwire hit seventy--he too tested positive for steroids, according to the 2003 anonymous survey conducted by Major League Baseball that came to light last year.
Will Major League Baseball make any official adjustment to the record? It's unlikely. For starters, it has not been proven that Bonds actually used steroids (though I suspect that's just a matter of time) or that Sosa was using steroids in 1998. More than that, though, the league is extremely reticent when it comes to revising records, most likely due to "slippery slope" concerns. If they change one record, they'll soon be flooded with requests to change them all. Then again, video replay on home run calls has begun to undermine the traditional inviolability of an umpire's ruling, so perhaps more change is in the wind.
In other news, Dartmouth men's basketball head coach Terry Dunn resigned last Friday. He had amassed a 47-103 record over six years with the team. The search for his replacement is ongoing. Go Big Green!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Basketball in the dark
Sounds like a profound metaphor, but it's actually just a description of my Saturday afternoon. Three friends and I headed over to my former roommate's church today to play, but all the lights were out in the gym and we couldn't find the switch! Luckily there was enough sunlight streaming in for us to play, but the passing and rebounding was a bit comical. Must be how the Nets feel.
It was definitely a fun way to get in some exercise, which can be difficult in Buffalo when you don't ice skate or ski. On the plus side, there's never a dearth of snow shoveling to do. I didn't do much (any) shoveling growing up, so I haven't yet been able to shake the feeling that it was devised by the Terrible Trivium. Perhaps Rhyme or Reason await at the end of it all, but I'd settle simply for spring.
Spring seems a distant apparition these days, though, as the snow drifts grow ever higher and the temperature continues to plummet. Between paramedic school and my various writing and reading projects, though, I'm not in any danger of getting bored staying indoors. I also signed on this week as an editor for a local Christian magazine. Its primary focus is Buffalo life as opposed to apologetics, so I'm looking forward to broadening my Christian publishing horizons.
In other news, freshman center DeMarcus Cousins has helped lead the University of Kentucky's men's basketball team to a #3 national ranking. We're not related, but I still get a kick out of headlines proclaiming, "Cousins leads Kentucky to victory!"
It was definitely a fun way to get in some exercise, which can be difficult in Buffalo when you don't ice skate or ski. On the plus side, there's never a dearth of snow shoveling to do. I didn't do much (any) shoveling growing up, so I haven't yet been able to shake the feeling that it was devised by the Terrible Trivium. Perhaps Rhyme or Reason await at the end of it all, but I'd settle simply for spring.
Spring seems a distant apparition these days, though, as the snow drifts grow ever higher and the temperature continues to plummet. Between paramedic school and my various writing and reading projects, though, I'm not in any danger of getting bored staying indoors. I also signed on this week as an editor for a local Christian magazine. Its primary focus is Buffalo life as opposed to apologetics, so I'm looking forward to broadening my Christian publishing horizons.
In other news, freshman center DeMarcus Cousins has helped lead the University of Kentucky's men's basketball team to a #3 national ranking. We're not related, but I still get a kick out of headlines proclaiming, "Cousins leads Kentucky to victory!"
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Back at it
Paramedic school reconvened today after a delightful two-week winter break. Although our 176-question exam on December 21 was theoretically the end of the cardiology unit, we were nevertheless welcomed back to class by four more cardiology-related tests. On the plus side, we started Ambulance Operations today, which covers topics as varied as the National Incident Management System and the Incident Command System to where to park the ambulance at the scene of a car crash on the highway.
Clinicals have also resumed in earnest. They never really left off, but my thirteen-day holiday in New England made it tough to continue checking off rotations. I have the stroke center, the centralized dispatch center and two more stints in the emergency department coming up in the next two weeks, which should be really interesting. I had actually been scheduled to visit the dispatch center and take an ED shift last month before the break, but I came down with a fever of nearly 103 degrees, so that was the end of that.
On a happier note, Ellen passed her Ph.D. oral qualifying exam today! Her examiners were thoroughly impressed by her level of preparation. I am extremely proud of her, though not at all surprised!
And in other news, the local newspaper has again left me scratching my head. "People who consume moderate amounts of alcohol," wrote one health-section columnist, "have a lower risk of dying than people who don't drink at all." Huh? I may not be a full-blown paramedic yet, but I'm pretty sure everyone dies, and no quantity of libation will make that any less probable . . .
Clinicals have also resumed in earnest. They never really left off, but my thirteen-day holiday in New England made it tough to continue checking off rotations. I have the stroke center, the centralized dispatch center and two more stints in the emergency department coming up in the next two weeks, which should be really interesting. I had actually been scheduled to visit the dispatch center and take an ED shift last month before the break, but I came down with a fever of nearly 103 degrees, so that was the end of that.
On a happier note, Ellen passed her Ph.D. oral qualifying exam today! Her examiners were thoroughly impressed by her level of preparation. I am extremely proud of her, though not at all surprised!
And in other news, the local newspaper has again left me scratching my head. "People who consume moderate amounts of alcohol," wrote one health-section columnist, "have a lower risk of dying than people who don't drink at all." Huh? I may not be a full-blown paramedic yet, but I'm pretty sure everyone dies, and no quantity of libation will make that any less probable . . .
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Constructive unhappiness
In October 2007, the former Dean of Harvard College, Harry Lewis, gave an interview to The Dartmouth Apologia in which he spoke about the integration of faith and reason in the modern university. He opined, "You should not be able to graduate from Harvard without taking a course that kept you up at night worried, sleepless, troubled . . . Students want to leave class with a smile, but I think we should recognize that you can’t mature unless you are occasionally made constructively unhappy."
I've thought about this from time to time, and more so recently. Did I take any classes at Dartmouth that troubled me to the point of sleeplessness? I certainly took classes that worked me to the point of sleeplessness, courtesy of term papers with rapidly approaching due dates, but I'm not sure I ever encountered a curriculum that troubled me in the way Dean Lewis describes.
This stems partly from the classes I took. Out of thirty four courses, nearly two-thirds were literature or history classes, my major and minor fields. Many of the others were selected because they fulfilled one of Dartmouth's various distributive requirements. But when I took classes purely for interest and not to fulfill any specific requirements--though my English and history classes often met both criteria--they were often dogmatically unchallenging courses like Beethoven in Context or Spanish composition.
Yet according to Dean Lewis, intellectual maturity is impossible without such intermittent catharsis. College classes are not the only way to experience this, of course, or else no intellectual growth would occur past the age of twenty one. Nevertheless, his point is apt. If we are not constantly being challenged by new ideas and perspectives--which will inevitably include some intellectual discomfort and unhappiness--then growth will be difficult.
So in honor of the start of the new Dartmouth term, allow me to echo Dean Lewis's exhortation to abandon intellectual insularity. College student or not, embrace opportunities to engage with the new and unfamiliar. Be willing to lie awake nights wrestling with what you are learning. You may not walk away smiling, but it will surely be worth it.
If you would like to read more, the full text of the interview is available here on the Apologia website.
I've thought about this from time to time, and more so recently. Did I take any classes at Dartmouth that troubled me to the point of sleeplessness? I certainly took classes that worked me to the point of sleeplessness, courtesy of term papers with rapidly approaching due dates, but I'm not sure I ever encountered a curriculum that troubled me in the way Dean Lewis describes.
This stems partly from the classes I took. Out of thirty four courses, nearly two-thirds were literature or history classes, my major and minor fields. Many of the others were selected because they fulfilled one of Dartmouth's various distributive requirements. But when I took classes purely for interest and not to fulfill any specific requirements--though my English and history classes often met both criteria--they were often dogmatically unchallenging courses like Beethoven in Context or Spanish composition.
Yet according to Dean Lewis, intellectual maturity is impossible without such intermittent catharsis. College classes are not the only way to experience this, of course, or else no intellectual growth would occur past the age of twenty one. Nevertheless, his point is apt. If we are not constantly being challenged by new ideas and perspectives--which will inevitably include some intellectual discomfort and unhappiness--then growth will be difficult.
So in honor of the start of the new Dartmouth term, allow me to echo Dean Lewis's exhortation to abandon intellectual insularity. College student or not, embrace opportunities to engage with the new and unfamiliar. Be willing to lie awake nights wrestling with what you are learning. You may not walk away smiling, but it will surely be worth it.
If you would like to read more, the full text of the interview is available here on the Apologia website.
Turning the corner
2010 is here, which means it's time for a quick look back and a long, excited look forward.
Looking back, I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, both spent in New Hampshire with Ellen. We spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's together for the first time this year; I am looking forward to many, many more! We also made a whirlwind tour of the East Coast, stopping in Needham, Greenwich, Chappaqua and New York City to see family, friends and college roommates.
Looking forward, I am now one third of the way through my paramedic program, and nearly halfway through the classroom portion (the final two months of the program are comprised of the field internship, where you work in the field as a baby paramedic). Since August, I have learned how to intubate, start IVs and interpret EKGs, along with assorted other skills like use of an opthalmoscope and needle cricothyrotomy. The program has been extremely worthwhile so far, everything I'd hoped and more.
I don't really do New Year's resolutions anymore myself, but I always like hearing what other people have chosen to do or stop doing. Anyone make an exciting resolution this year?
Happy New Year!
Looking back, I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, both spent in New Hampshire with Ellen. We spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's together for the first time this year; I am looking forward to many, many more! We also made a whirlwind tour of the East Coast, stopping in Needham, Greenwich, Chappaqua and New York City to see family, friends and college roommates.
Looking forward, I am now one third of the way through my paramedic program, and nearly halfway through the classroom portion (the final two months of the program are comprised of the field internship, where you work in the field as a baby paramedic). Since August, I have learned how to intubate, start IVs and interpret EKGs, along with assorted other skills like use of an opthalmoscope and needle cricothyrotomy. The program has been extremely worthwhile so far, everything I'd hoped and more.
I don't really do New Year's resolutions anymore myself, but I always like hearing what other people have chosen to do or stop doing. Anyone make an exciting resolution this year?
Happy New Year!
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