Scratch_pad_2-6-2022
At the start of the day, I create a text file in iA Writer, and I title it Scratch_pad_the_day's_date. Here are some of the things in today's scratch_pad.
“If you read those books carefully and we’ll, and talk about them honestly with each other, you will learn something about how to live.” (Source: This episode of the Ezra Klien Show)
I love this! A seminar is a place to engage with ideas deeply. I like seminars and dislike overly prescriptive task-focused styles of education. I do a duck-duck-go search for "seminar style," and I find this:
The term “seminar” actually comes from the Latin word seminarium, which means “seed plot.” So, you can think of a seminar as a place to plant ideas and watch them grow. Unlike lectures, seminar classes are meant to be interactive, with students participating in a dialogue rather than just listening to a professor and taking notes. Because of this, seminar classes are great for engaging with complex ideas but less suitable for “how-to” or hands-on lessons. (Source)
Might we make things less unfair rather than making things "fair"?
I'm not too fond of the idea of teacher/student, supervisor/supervise, or mentor/mentee. I prefer one who has experienced more and one who has experienced less.
David Brooks describes Obama:
He's calm. He's not addicted to people.
"Not addicted to people." I don't know what that means. Is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Is it both a good and bad thing? Is it just something that sounds interesting when someone says it? Am I overthinking this?
The way Maggie Nelson writes in The Argonauts is the style I'd like to be able to write in. I say this because it seems so honest and open to me. I keep getting bogged down in trying to write in ways that will meet with the approval of others.
For all I know, Maggie Nelson, who I've never met or spoken to, might also be concerned about how other people judge her written words. She is a professional writer, to some extent, she must be. But her style is such that I don't think she cares defensively the way I do.