One of my favorite Christmas stories when I was growing up was Raymond Macdonald Alden’s “Why the Chimes Rang.” I write today to figure out why. You can click here to read it. The story is about a church with a tower so high that no one can see the top. It is reputed to […]
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Reconnecting with the Chimes Within
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Christmas, Raymond Alden, Spirituality, Why the Chimes Rang Comments closed
Using Shakespeare in Business Dealings
In yesterday’s examination of universal health care legislation in terms of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, I mentioned E. D. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (1988). Hirsch believes that cultures need a set of common texts to function effectively. While I have some reservations about that work, I wholeheartedly support Hirsch’s contention that […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Business, Cultural Literacy, E. D. Hirsch, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Obamacare to Tiny Tim’s Rescue
Paul Krugman made clever use of Dickens’ Christmas Carol in a column last week. The New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winning economist addresses opponents of the health care bills that have emerged out of the House and Senate, arguing that progressives should be pleased, despite the bills’ limitations. Arguing that politics is the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol, health care, Paul Krugman Comments closed
The Children’s Books that Shaped Me
The poem I printed by my father in my last post provides a good map of the books and poems that he used to read to me and my brothers. In case there were any works that you do not recognize, here’s a key: –Leerie is “The Lamplighter” in Robert Lewis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden […]
Books Unleashed in Christmas Carrels
On this Christmas day, I want to acknowledge one of the greatest gifts I ever received from my parents: my love of reading. Both are voracious readers, and my father (Scott Bates) would read to me and my brothers every evening. This included, for each of us, both a story or chapter and a poem. […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Christmas Carrel", children's books, Christmas, Scott Bates Comments closed
Terabithia and Coping with Loss
Last week my library discussion group talked about the children’s classic and Newberry award winner Bridge to Terabithia (1977), by Katherine Paterson. It has been our tradition each December to choose a children’s book in honor of the holiday season. Bridge to Terabithia, we discovered, fits the season well. Warning: I reveal the ending in […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Bridge to Terabithia, death of a child, Grief, Katherine Paterson Comments closed
