Category Archives: Robert’s posts

Phonics and the State of the Union

Posted on February 7, 2023 by Robert Basil

Our friend Jonathan Mayhew has been wondering whether the “balanced literacy” approach to teaching reading has neglected fundamental ways the brain apprehends and organizes sound itself, to the detriment of a generation or more of young would-be readers. Professors of … Continue reading →

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“Pre-Planned Feelings”

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Robert Basil

We have discussed our friend Clarissa‘s opinions on American academia and other topics in the past. She is an Hispanic Studies professor at a midwestern public university whose blog is always vividly written (and is contentious by design, I would … Continue reading →

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“Overlords at the Easel”

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Robert Basil

The brilliant, prolific, and combative political cartoonist Ted Rall has been spreading warnings about the ways AI can and will rob artists of rights to – and earnings from – their work. This week: As a cartoonist of the early … Continue reading →

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Merry Xmas!

Posted on December 25, 2022 by Robert Basil

From the great Bryan Garner: You can buy the new, 5th edition of Garner’s Modern English Usage here.

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This can go a long way

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Robert Basil

This semester I asked a student of mine who’s in my university’s HR program whether human resources professionals needed to actually like people. (I wish I remember why I asked!) She told me nobody had ever asked her that question … Continue reading →

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Christmas season comment

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Robert Basil

I will never get used to the term “anti-woke.”

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Anniversary

Posted on November 12, 2022 by Robert Basil

This month we begin the eleventh year of No Contest Communications. Tierney set the tone and the theme with her inaugural posts. I especially like “On Being Forgiven.”

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Apropos The Georgia Straight

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Robert Basil

Dan Savage was not exaggerating the problems faced by alt-weeklies in recent years. From The Tyee last week: The crew at the Georgia Straight wrote until the bitter end, filing stories and chronicling Vancouver’s culture after the paycheques stopped flowing … Continue reading →

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Savage Love

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Robert Basil

The prose of Dan Savage is bold and crystal clear – and edifying to a profound degree. It always has been. I started reading his column in the San Francisco’s alt-weekly back in the early 90s and kept up that … Continue reading →

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If you hadn’t noticed …

Posted on October 8, 2022 by Robert Basil

Here we go again. — Liberals loathe the political Right’s hypocrisy and unfairness. Conservatives loathe the Left’s immorality and delicacy. The groups’ estimations of their own qualities, though, are less precise. The question of “hypocrisy” is particularly interesting. La Rochefoucauld … Continue reading →

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