Would you like a guided tour through research on how the brain works? This book is one of about eight published in 2018 that you might find exciting. I’m drawn to this topic because reading about neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to change its structure and patterns of activity – … Read More
Month: September 2018
“The trends are also remarkably consistent: loneliness, depressive symptoms, major depressive episodes, anxiety, self-injury, and suicide are all on the rise, mostly since 2011.”
Today I heard Dr. Twenge give a presentation to college faculty members on the characteristics of people who were born after 1995. The questions that followed were remarkable for two reasons. First, there was broad acceptance of her research-backed claim that our youngest students are experiencing a rising level of… Read More
“The courage to teach is the courage to keep one’s heart open . . .”
The school year has just started, and I’ve begun to meet students who seem to have everything going for them and other students who seem to have the deck stacked against them. At this point, I don’t know how any of this will unfold, but I can predict that I’ll … Read More
“There is something missing in our definition, vision, of a human being: the need to make.”
Frank Bidart, who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, explores this “need to make” in the twenty-part poem “Advice to the Players.” Yes, that’s right: twenty parts. He’s known for psychological complexity and paradoxical observations, and this poem provides both. For example, he writes, “Horrible is the fate … Read More