The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: personal

  • from 2003: Synchronicity, in memoriam Robert Hauter Myslik

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    mongreldogs
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    [edited 2007 0130 to correct Rob’s middle name, which was Hauter and not Hunter.] This piece dates from around 2003 February 10. I wrote it about three weeks after the death of a legendary colleague and true friend, Rob Myslik. Rob taught at Hun for nine years, including two while I was there, and then…

  • Late Night Blogging

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    mongreldogs
    in

    So it’s about 1:15 AM local time and here I am sitting at my computer starting a blog entry. A sure sign I’m becoming addicted? Probably not. It’s just one of those nights when sleep seems determined to stay away and, since once of my New Year’s objectives is to write more, this outlet seems…

  • Happy New Year 2007

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    mongreldogs
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    Yeah, it’s lame to post just a “Happy New Year” message. But it’s after midnight and I don’t feel like writing much more, so there. 🙂

  • Politics and Teaching

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    mongreldogs
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    So, Election Day has come and gone. I took time to talk about it in each of my classes today — and yes, I know I teach physics; more on that later — and I thought I’d ruminate some here. Full disclaimer: I am a lifelong Democrat who had been reasonably certain they’d find a…

  • Beyond the poundy drums

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    mongreldogs
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    I’m a fan of the new, “re-imagined” Battlestar Galactica on the Sci Fi channel. (Shamefaced confession: I am also a fan of the original schlocky BSG from 1978 — in fact I was one of those loudly decrying the new one as yet another unholy exploitation of the greats of my childhood. Oopsie.) I like…

  • The Constitution, the Flag, and Fire

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    mongreldogs
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    OK, nominally this blog is supposedly about education. But school’s out, I don’t have any urgent education-think to lay out there, and there are other issues that speak to me. Today it’s about the so-called “flag burning amendment”. For those who object to political content bleeding into “neutral” areas, I’ll quarantine it behind a “Read…

  • Why “Mongrel Dogs”?

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    mongreldogs
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    First of all, as noted on the About page, the title of this blog comes from a Dylan song, “My Back Pages”, specifically In a soldier’s stance I aim my hands At the mongrel dogs who teach Fearing not I become my enemy In the moment that I preach I like the euphony of the…

  • Shameless self-promotion

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    mongreldogs
    in

    Who am I, what gives me the gumption to write this, and why should you care what I say about education? Fair questions all. Let’s start with the last one first. Why should you care? I could offer up genealogies or testimonials or credentials (see below) — heck, this being education, I probably should offer…

  • Hello world!

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    mongreldogs
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    Welcome to The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach, my little experiment in blogging. This will be updated approximately every “whenever I feel like it” and will likely be about as erratic as I am. If you’re interested, the experiment is, “Can I run a blog on education and not get myself fired post-haste?” That’s about it…