We Could Drive Out Past the Ozarks Tonight, Spring Is Almost Here
Digest No. 07 - March 2024
On Commonplacing
It is, then, a sound instinct which identifies freedom with power to frame purposes and to execute or carry into effect purposes so framed. Such freedom is in turn identical with self-control; for the formation of purposes and the organization of means to execute them are the work of intelligence. Plato once defined a slave as the person who executes the purposes of another, and, as has just been said, a person is also a slave who is enslaved to his own blind desires. There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active co-operation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying. But the meaning of purposes and ends is not self-evident and self-explanatory. The more their educational importance is emphasized, the more important it is to understand what a purpose is; how it arises and how it functions in experience.
John Dewey, Experience and Education (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953), pp. 77-78.
Great Ideas: Education, Experience, Liberty, Slavery
This was my first time reading Experience and Education and I’ve got a lot of thoughts about Dewey’s project. I’m working an essay that stems from reading this and Rousseau’s Emile in close proximity, which I hope to have more to say about in the future.
On Reading & Researching
My family finished the second and third Wingfeather Saga books, and we have started the fourth. We are perhaps a bit late to the party on this one. I will say Andrew Peterson is a gifted storyteller, without a doubt, and that these are enjoyable stories for children and families. I have some predictions about how the story will end, but time will tell if I’ve rightly anticipated where Peterson is going with this thing.
I’m beginning some preliminary readings for my Don Quixote/The Sun Also Rises paper coming up this July. The paper is still mostly an outline and some notes, but I’m looking forward to digging into it when the semester winds down.
And as always, I’m reading what feels like a hundred different things about education.
On Writing & Publishing
I planned for March to be a slow month, and so far that has worked out. I’m polishing up three essays, a couple of book reviews, and some other larger projects, so rest assured I’m busy. Busier than I want to be, for sure.
The most significant thing I have to announce is that two of Harry Sylvester’s books are now back in print! Dearly Beloved and Moon Gaffney have been reprinted by Angelico Press (and should be available on their website after Easter). These re-released novels include a new Foreword, a cover summary, and a cover biography of Sylvester, each written by me.
I had been working with a former student to develop cover ideas for Moon Gaffney, and I encouraged her to take some inspiration from the Polish translation of the book Wcześniej czy później (1955). Schedules didn’t work out and so Angelico Press went with a painting of New York from the 1930s, when the story is ostensibly set. But I liked what Claire McNeill was working towards in her depiction of young Moon having to choose between the City of Man and the City of God. I think the final product would have been really great.
Up till now, the only book of Sylvester’s that has been in print was Dayspring, republished by Ignatius Press in 2009. While I think it’s great that someone had kept Sylvester’s name in active print, I found Ignatius Press’s cover choice a bit lacking and even confusing. More than one person, after looking to buy it upon my recommendation, told me that it looked like a book about Islam. There’s no reason to come to that conclusion after studying the cover, but that’s kind of the thing: covers should be immediately inviting and not require close scrutiny to figure them out.
I’m thrilled at the notion of three Sylvester novels in print, and I’m hoping to find someone interested in bringing out his other two novels and his short stories.
On Traveling & Speaking
My family and I started the month driving from Dallas back to Fayetteville after I wrapped up the Ciceronian Society Conference. We returned home for a week then turned right around and headed for Boston. I was heading for the KPCEL conference on Character Education and A.I. while my family was headed for the Freedom Trail. I enjoyed the conference and my family enjoyed Boston, putting it on our list of places to revisit someday. As the conference ended, I headed out to the Bunker Hill Memorial with my family, and we climbed all the way to the top of those stupid stairs. Then we headed to New York city, where we planned to make the most out of a 48-hour visit. In that time, we: went through Grand Central Station, walked through Central Park, spent an afternoon in the American Museum of Natural History, took in the Morgan Library, took a ferry to Liberty Island and then Ellis Island, rode the Seaglass Carousel in Battery Park, took pictures outside the Ghostbusters Fire Station, walked down Broadway, toured the MoMA, and visited the Lego Store.
The kids unanimously liked seeing the Natural History Museum and Van Gogh’s Starry Night in person more than anything else. And each said they wanted to come back to visit New York but did not want to live there. This was my first time in New York and I am content to say I hope to never live there.
On Listening
When I write, I tend to do it without music accompaniment. I know a lot of authors use music to help them focus, but I find it distracts me more than the silence. I will add though that there are two particular albums which I turn to when I need to drown out the noise of a full and happy home. For whatever reason, the Tron: Legacy soundtrack works wonders for me when it comes to focusing on writing. I doubt many would find this album helpful for themselves, but who knows? Maybe a little Daft Punk is all that’s standing between you and finishing that essay? I know it helps me.
Thanks for the Harry Sylvester highlights. It looks like there’s a new author I need to add to my bookshelves.