With America flat on its back, “Town Meeting of the Air” revived the conversation of democracy.

Democracy, TEACHERS, teachers & healers, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticNovember 14, 2024Town Meeting of the Air, America's Town Meeting of the Air, democracy, American democracy, Old radio Comments

THE JEWEL OF THE SUMMER -- FREEDOM SCHOOLS

In a savage and sizzling summer, Mississippi’s Freedom Schools were beacons of hope.

TEACHERS, teachers & healers, TEACHERS & HEALERS, teachersThe AtticJune 21, 2024Freedom Schools, Freedom Summer, 1964, Mississippi, Civil Rights Movement Comments

A MIND FOR THE MASSES

Martin Gardner was interested in everything and made everything interesting.

TEACHERS & HEALERS, teachers & healers, TEACHERS, teachersThe AtticFebruary 28, 2024Martin Gardner, Scientific American, Mathematics, Recreational math, puzzles, Alice in Wonderland, The Annotated Alice Comments

THE EINSTEIN OF GREEN LIVING

Critics scoffed but Amory Lovins has stayed on “the soft path” to renewable energy.

HEROES, TEACHERS, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticDecember 15, 2023Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute, RMI, Environment, Environmental Movement, Solar Energy Comments

TRUTH'S OWN HISTORIAN -- JILL LEPORE

Despite three jobs — professor, New Yorker writer, mother — Jill Lepore solved the mystery. “Who Killed Truth?”

BATTLING THE B.S., TEACHERS, teachers, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticSeptember 21, 2023Jill Lepore, American history, These Truths, The New Yorker, Harvard University Comments

KEEPING A WATCH ON BIRDS

Using apps and A.I., Cornell’s Lab of O keeps our eyes on the birds.

TEACHERS, TEACHERS & HEALERS, teachersThe AtticJuly 20, 2023Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds, bird watching, Audubon society, citizen science Comments

THAT ADORABLE GENIUS

More than “Henry’s brother,” William James opened his mind to spirits, drugs, life. . .

TEACHERS, teachers, TEACHERS & HEALERSBruce WatsonJune 14, 2023William James, Henry James, The James Family, Pragmatism, The Varieties of Religious Experience Comments

MUSIC'S MASTER TEACHER

Classical was a bore until Leonard Bernstein aired his “Young People’s Concerts.” (As seen in “Maestro.”)

TEACHERS & HEALERS, teachers, ATTIC AT THE MOVIESThe AtticApril 13, 2023Leonard Bernstein, Young People's Concerts, New York Philharmonic, classical music Comments

DOWN THOSE SESAME STREETS

Children’s TV was a wasteland. Then Joan Ganz Cooney took us all to “Sesame Street.”

CREATIVES, TEACHERS, teachers, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticMarch 3, 2023Sesame Street, PBS, Children's Television Workshop, Educational TV, Joan Ganz Cooney, Big Bird, The Muppets Comments

THE ECONOMIST AND THE COMMONS

The commons was doomed, economists said. Elinor Ostrom disagreed and won a Nobel.

TEACHERS & HEALERS, teachers & healers, DREAMERSThe AtticJuly 6, 2022Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize, Nobel Prize economicsComment

WHO IS AMERICA'S GREATEST THINKER?

Think the Midwest is just corn country? The annual Great American Think-off will make you think again.

TEACHERS, teachers, teachers & healers, TEACHERS & HEALERSBruce WatsonJune 2, 2022Great American Think-off, Philosophy, American philosophy, Thinking Comment

"BIRTH OF A NATION" AND THE BIRTH OF BLACK HISTORY

When the first blockbuster movie spread dangerous myths, one man rose to challenge them. And seeds were sown.

teachers, TEACHERS, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticJanuary 27, 2022Birth of a Nation, Black History Month, Carter G. Woodson Comment

THE PREACHER, THE SLAVE, AND THE VAXX

When smallpox ravaged Boston, Cotton Mather turned to science to stop this “Destroying Angel.” American medicine was never the same.

TEACHERS & HEALERS, TEACHERSThe AtticSeptember 2, 2021Vaccination, Smallpox, Cotton Mather, Anti-vaxx Comment

THE WOMAN WHO SAVES OLD GROWTH

Stepping into Old Growth, Joan Maloof felt the forest. Now she is set on saving “the ancients.”

Women, teachers, TEACHERS, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticDecember 10, 2020Old Growth forests, Joan Maloof, Environment Comments

WATCHING US WATCH TV

Others saw TV as mindless, but George Gerbner saw it as mean. And he had the data to prove it.

teachers, TEACHERS, TEACHERS & HEALERS, teachers & healersThe AtticOctober 1, 2020George Gerbner, TV Watching, TV studies, TV violence Comments

JOE AND ELIZA -- AN A.I. LOVE STORY

He was a computer whiz. She was his creation, programmed to debunk AI. So why did people keep “talking” to ELIZA?

Science, TEACHERS, teachers, TEACHERS & HEALERSThe AtticJuly 16, 2020A.I., Artificial Intelligence, Joseph Weizenbaum, M.I.T., ElizaComment