Constant testing is sapping the joy out of reading. It’s also counterproductive as readers learn the most when they find reading fun.
Tag Archives: Hard Times
Thoughts on Teaching as School Begins
The despairing teacher in this Vernon Scannell poems needs to focus on his students, not on himself.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged “Aging Schoolmaster", Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Charles Dickens, pedagogy, school, Vernon Scannell Comments closed
Literature on Why Taxes Are Good
Edgar A. Guest has a fun poem in favor of taxes. And Dickens unloads on those with money who avoid paying them.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged billionaires, Charles Dickens, Edgar A. Guest, Taxes, wealth inequality Comments closed
Irresponsible Coal Companies
Coal miner owners have been leaving behind messes for others to clean up. Dickens reports something similar in “Hard Times.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Charles Dickens, coal mining, land reclamation, pollution Comments closed
Biden-Trump Invites Dickens Comparisons
If one thinks of the 2020 election in Dickensian terms, several novels come to mind.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2020 election, Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Martin Chuzzlewit, Oliver Twist Comments closed
Imagine Lit Characters in Reality TV
Thursday I came across this enjoyable tweet from one Ross Danniel Bullen, who imagines a Victorian version of the House Hunters television show: Host: I— Henry James: I should like a kitchen whose concept is – how shall I conceive of it – not closed, not in some way occluded, but bright, agape, unrestrained as […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bachelor, Bachelorette, Charles Dickens, Henry James, House Hunters, Importance of Being Earnest, Jane Austen, Jeopardy, Lost, Oscar Wilde, Pride and Prejudice, reality television, Samuel Beckett, television shows, Waiting for Godot Comments closed
Literature Has Paul Ryan’s Number
Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Chinua Achebe, John Milton, and Thomas Hardy see through men like departing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "How Doth the Little Crocodile", Alice in Wonderland, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Charles Dickens, Chinua Achebe, John Milton, Lewis Carroll, Oliver Twist, Paradise Lost, Paul Ryan politics, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Things Fall Apart, Thomas Hardy Comments closed
Trump & Bounderby: Cut Taxes or Die
In Monday night’s debate, Donald Trump warned that companies would take their business elsewhere if taxes and regulations on them weren’t lowered. As Dickens noted in “Hard Times,” businesses have been threatening this, like, forever.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged business regulations, Charles Dickens, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, presidential debates, Tax Policy, tax reduction, Taxation Comments closed
