Author Archive for dcdotnerd

Banned Books Week 2014

When I was in high school, one of my English teachers taught one day about Lady Chatterly’s Lover. We didn’t read it in class, and not because of any curricular intent to avoid it (at least, I assume), but we learned…

It runs in the family

Almost everyone in my family is an academic. Grandpa Blau taught at Columbia. Grandma and Grandpa Katz were both medical doctors but also did some university teaching. Aunt Rachel retired from Temple; Uncle Bob from Swarthmore. Aunt Jan is a…

Notable DC figures

District law requires that full names be used when naming a public space after a person. And we like to name public space after people. So if one pays attention, there is an opportunity to learn about the historical figures…

Tisha B’Av and Ostriching

Today was Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, which is a day of communal mourning. In a fascinating stroke of coincidence, both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem fell on the ninth of Av.…

Information Literacy, then and now

A digression deleted from my post on Hack Library School about information literacy. Go read that post, and come back here where it says to. Old standards: Determine the extent of information needed Access the needed information effectively and efficiently…

Red Pepper Pesto

If I’m going to post something every day this month, not every post is going to be deeply thoughtful. In that vein, I give you: Red Pepper Pesto Ingredients: About half a jar of roasted red peppers from Trader Joes,…