THE OTHER OPPENHEIMER AND HIS PALACE OF WONDER

One Oppenheimer brother fell but the other rose to spark a world of wonder.

TEACHERS, teachersThe AtticJuly 5, 2024Frank Oppenheimer, The Exploratorium, Science museums, Trinity test, J. Robert Oppenheimer 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

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

AMERICA THE PHILOSOPHICAL

Out of the academy and into the agora, Americans are thinking and questioning in ways that would make Socrates smile.

TEACHERS, teachers, BOOK-ISHBruce WatsonMay 25, 2023philosophy, American philosophy, Michael Sandel, justice, education Comments

APPALACHIA'S MUDDY INFO-HIGHWAY

When the Depression cut off Appalachia, women on horseback brought books into dark hollows.

teachersThe AtticApril 27, 2023Packhorse Libraries, Packhorse librarians, Appalachia, Eastern Kentucky, WPA, Works Progress Administration 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

MEET THE FIRST ANTI-RACISTS

When America used “science” to back white supremacy, Franz Boas and his students battled the B.S.

BATTLING THE B.S., TEACHERS, teachersThe AtticMarch 9, 2023Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Gods of the Upper Air, Ruth Benedict, white supremacy, Edward Sapir, anthropology, Nazi eugenics, eugenics Comment

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

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

DEMOCRACY FOR A DIME

Books were no bargain until a century ago when the Little Blue Books were born. A half billion books later. . .

DREAMERS, teachers, BOOK-ISHThe AtticAugust 19, 2021Publishing, Little Blue Books, Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, Democracy Comment

LIFE AND LIFE SENTENCES

When Will Durant asked the wise about “the meaning of life,” he got the usual answers. Then he asked a prisoner.

teachers, TEACHERS, teachers & healers, BOOK-ISHThe AtticApril 22, 2021philosophy, will durant, meaning of life, Owen c. middleton Comment

JAIME ESCALANTE AND THE CALCULUS OF HOPE

Students called Jaime Escalante “Kimo.” He called them his “burros.” But the key to his success was ganas — the drive to succeed. (As seen in “Stand and Deliver.”)

teachers, TEACHERS, ATTIC AT THE MOVIESThe AtticFebruary 18, 2021Jaime Escalante, Teaching, Stand and Deliver Comments