Tag Archives: mental hygiene

Don’t think with your fingers

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Robert Basil

Biographer Robert Caro’s books are marathon-long, though very much worth the time it takes to read them. His laceration of Robert Moses, “The Power Broker,” is almost 1300 pages. In a wonderful interview published in The New York Review of … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Good Motto

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Robert Basil

“I have never sacrificed an idea simply because it might go over the head of someone not yet ready to understand it.”  

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Practice

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Robert Basil

As a teacher and as an editor, my counsel to students and writers often seems too obvious even to say. For instance: “You can’t complete a large project in a short time. Proceed bit by bit” (or “bird by bird“). … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Smart/Dumb

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Robert Basil

In my profession some colleagues believe that marking hard – giving more D’s than B’s, for instance – correlates with a high level of “rigour” in teaching. To my mind, though, there is often no connection between grade distribution and … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mental Hygiene

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Robert Basil

In a post called “Cognitive” my good friend Jonathan Mayhew explores one of NoContest’s recurrent themes: There is the idea that you can prevent decay in cognitive function by doing inane, mindless games on the computer, such as those peddled … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Muse

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Robert Basil

I’m not a great creative individual by any stretch, but I do respect my muse and do *not* screw with it. My friend kat passed along this letter by musician Nick Cave, which he wrote to MTV in 1996, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Nifty little animated lesson: The Psychology of Blame

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Robert Basil
Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Independent Creativity: Making Yourself Successful

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Robert Basil

The wonderful Molly Crabapple explains what she has learned, in fifteen paragraphs. Here are a half dozen: Companies are not loyal to you. Please never believe a company has your back. They are amoral by design and will discard you at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Goosebumps

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Robert Basil

This new ad, titled “Missing Work,” was created by Bell Canada for its “Let’s Talk Mental Health” initiative. It captures a moment – a short routine, really – very common among the chronically depressed. It is staggeringly understated and beautiful. … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Making your own career rules

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Robert Basil

Radhika Nagpal, a computer science professor at Harvard, has written a wonderful piece called “The Awesomest 7 Year Post-Doc or: How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Tenure Track Faculty Life.” It’s about maintaining good emotional hygiene in the academic environment. … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment