The BBC recently published a curious review of Nick Middleton’s An Atlas of Countries that Don’t Exist (Macmillan, 2015). Nick Middleton is an academic geographer who has a sideline in popular travel writing. The imaginary countries covered in the book include a tiny island in the Shetlands (Forvik), a neighborhood in Copenhagen notable for legalizing weed (Christiania), and a small community of farmers in Australia hoping to escape agricultural regulations (Hutt River). Most of the piece has a kind of light-hearted, fun tone — look at these wacky people, starting their own countries! …
What does it mean if you’re labelled “gifted” in a public school? According to a recent NPR report, it means we spend a lot of time and money classifying you, but don’t pay that much attention to educating you:
There are cases where parents spend years advocating for students, kids get multiple rounds of testing, and at the end of the day they’re provided with a little bit of differentiation or an hour of resource-room time in the course of a week… That’s not sufficient for a fourth-grader, say, who needs to take geometry.
Not surprisingly, the parents who typically…
These fifteen “maxims” are a work in progress. I first started drafting them seven years ago. They were intended mainly for students who were at the early stages of a religion major, but we had so few students who fit that description at the time, I never really put them into classroom use in a regular way.
I’m happy to hear whatever feedback you might have.
- Start with what’s right in front of you.
- Never ignore the obvious.
- Keep track of your own reactions.
- Ask questions, but don’t expect to figure it all out.
- Get comfortable with discomfort.
- Listen to…
Nathan Rein
Theoretically, I study the theory of religion. In real life, I’m interested in pretty much everything.
