Coming Through the Wry

Astral Facts, September 2011

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Coming Through the Wry

September has come and is about gone with changes to adapt to, which really is nothing new. In an article I read recently, the author noted that ethics and morality are personal issues, but they don’t have any meaning until the individual is involved in some kind of relationship.

For example, on campus we’ve moved the faculty and staff along with offices, work space, and classrooms related to five general disciplines occupying five smaller buildings into a centralized single building. Adaptation is coming at many levels of personal sacrifice for the greater good. For instance, I can no longer select the temperature or strength of the water when I wash my hands in the restrooms. I have to hold my hands under the spout and the flow automatically comes at an intensity and a lukewarm temperature deigned to be “ideal” in our one-size-fits-all (even if it doesn’t) brave new world.

Another interesting aspect is the cutback on classroom support, with the reduced number of custodial staff not required to clean the white boards during the night. Thus, we now have extra green towels and water spray bottles in each classroom so the last one out can “prep” the room for the new dawn that is surely coming.

I’ve found these very handy since I teach in three separate classrooms this quarter. I am able to use my “down time” prior to each of my classes to thoroughly “whitewash” the boards prior to each of the classes on a daily basis, removing the vestiges of profundity unearthed in the previous 23 hours. We have these sliding boards, with two overlapping layers (four board surface sections), and I often find interesting messages hidden away between layers. Of course, the additional side boards can be cleaned on a “need to go” basis.

It’s funny how history tends to be circular or recyclable, for I’m reminded of the halcyon days of my youth when I shared a house with three other guys in my post BA days. I was using my English degree very effectively by reading and critically interpreting map directions and road signs while driving a frozen food delivery truck. Another of my housemates (Pat) was doing accounting for a record company, his friend Don was collecting unemployment from a warehouse job at Sears, and Don’s younger brother Steven was a student at the UW. We shared a little place at 51st and Wallingford.

We decided to take turns doing meal duty. Each person would have total control one day: buy the groceries, prepare the meal, and clean up afterward – each contributing according to means, ability, and opportunity. My turn was Monday, Pat had Tuesday, Steven on Wednesday, and Don on Thursday. Four single guys on our own – we figured it was individual responsibilities on Fri, Sat, & Sundays. What a nice plan! Except…...

Pat and I would fulfill our responsibilities, but on Wednesday Steven prepared the meal (usually something cheap, easy, and messy – like mac& cheese or frozen lasagna), and then he ran upstairs to study. So the other three of us would put our dirty plates and stuff in the sink with the rest of the mess and wait for Stephen to clean up. Something that never happened. He just added his dishes to the mess when he finished studying.

So Don would cook on Thursday and just add to the mess left by Stephen. Since Stephen hadn’t cleaned up, Don didn’t feel he should be responsible for pre-existing conditions (not his brother’s keeper or something like that). Then Friday and Saturday the accumulation continued to accumulate. Pat and I never really discussed the situation except to share our disappointment that Don wasn’t making his younger brother be responsible. It wasn’t our job to confront either one about this.

Finally, on Sunday either Pat or I would have reached the breaking point, and one of us would wash up the mess in the sink and clean the kitchen to start the new week all fresh again. I’m not sure how long this would have lasted, but after four months Don’s unemployment ran out and he moved back to Wenatchee to get his old job in the cannery and I got accepted to go to Afghanistan in the Peace Corps.

I’m sure there must be a lesson or moral there somewhere. Somehow this seemed reminiscent of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Blithedale Romance, where it seemed like all the main character did was complain that the others weren’t doing their fair share. I don’t know why we had to read this in class back then or how any of this makes sense, but I’ve got to go clean some whiteboards – no time to think about it.


Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.

Who Needs Humanities

Astral Facts, May/June 2011

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Who Needs the Humanities?

In these days of budget cutting and all, concerns about relevant and necessary programs have emerged here in the ivory towers of higher ed.  Perhaps a reduction in the course load for the Humanities might be a good way to cut some of the "fat" from the sacred cows of education.


Of course, one thing for sure is the importance of the math and science programs.  It's not something new, for back in 1983 Susan Jacoby wrote an article for The New York Times in which she noted the "self-inflicted disability" many high school girls were inflicting on themselves by dropping out of math and science classes because they considered them "masculine" and success in those fields might exclude them from getting a date for Prom.


In other words, in a patriarchial society, one shouldn't challenge those in power.   Twenty some years later Lindsay Lohan, in the movie Mean Girls, illustrated this same principle at work when her character dumbed down to attract the hunky guy sitting next to her in math class.


In my English 101 class, we read and discuss Jacoby's article and then students need to write a paper of summary and analysis about the article.  Here's a copy of a student's paper that is quite illuminating, which I have reproduced unedited:

Bright Girls

          In the article “When Bright Girls Decide Math Is ‘a Waste of Time’” by Susan Jacoby the point she is trying to get across is that the problem teenage girls are having can be stopped if the parents realize what is happening and do something about it. Her main thesis is that adolescent girls and their parents are active conspirators in limiting their own intellectual development. One of the key ideas in the article are during the vulnerable period of mid adolescence, girls are most likely to be influenced by the traditional belief that math and science are “masculine” subjects. Susan Jacoby also says that in adolescence girls begin to fear that they will be unattractive to boys if they [are] typed as “brains”. In some cases like the Bronx High School of Science where women go to learn too they are still largely outnumbered by the men. To prove her point she shows us a 1981 assessment of female achievement in mathematics, based on research conducted under a National Institute for Education grant, they found significant differences in the mathematical achievements of ninth and twelfth graders. At age thirteen girls were equal if not better in math but four years later the boys had outstripped them. She brings up an example from her own life about how in her sophomore year she pretended to do badly in math when actually she had straight A’s last year in algebra. One of the methods she uses is casual analysis where she says that this problem is a self inflicting female issue and later in the article she says the consequences are that the girls are limiting their own career options. Throughout the article she uses contrast telling us how bad girls are doing math and then she says how the boys are doing in the same situation. Her conclusion clearly states that it is up to the parents to see to it that their daughters do not accede the old stereotypes about “masculine” and ‘feminine” knowledge. This story is still relevant today and parents need to be more aware of what classes their daughters are taking.

Isn't this a nice summary that clearly shows the issue from nearly 30 years ago?  but wait ---- it gets better when the analysis kicks in:

     This article can be applied today because it is still going on. Even I witnessed it in high school just last year. In my math class we had this girl who did really well on her tests because she know if the failed the tests then would fail the class. But during class she would be the class dummy always asking for help from some guy who pretended he knew what he was doing. In reality he just wanted to talk to the girl. Cases like these are really common today because the girls think that the guys don’t look twice at the girls who get a 4.0 in math class. So thinking like that girls pretend to be stupid in the math class or even the science classes because it still applies there too. Like in my biology class the cheerleader at my table would always be asking for help from the teacher because she didn’t want to look like some nerd doing so good in geology. Part of this problem of women acting dumb in front of guys is us guys are deciders of what is attractive or not so somehow we let the girls know that it is hot to be dumb. Especially these days most guys don’t care how educated women are as long as the guys can get some action. Unfortunately it sounds harsh but it’s true. Knowing that men think like that women don’t bother getting good education in math or science.
       In Susan Jacoby’s article she says how if the women don’t take math and science they will not have the total vision of human experience. This is not necessarily true because these days most of the men take the responsibility of knowing all the gadgets and technology. For women it’s mostly about emotion so they go after the gossip of this worlds and most of the time technology and math doesn’t interest them. Just the subject technology most women cringe from because they wouldn’t know one word that they hear about it. Usually women just depend on the guys to get all the cell phones and cars in their life. I think that women get along in life just fine without the complete knowledge of technology and math. Most of the women who are in universities getting their science degree are probably fat and ugly so they know that they won’t easily get a rich smart guy who they can depend on. That assumption is wrong that Susan Jacoby made in her article about women. I agree that teenage girls should go through all the necessary math classes so they get the basic math knowledge but the higher up math is optional.
      Concluding from this article I think parents should keep a good eye on their daughters throughout high school but after that it is their own choice whether they want to continue in math. Most women are not cut out for a career in math or science. A good solution for most situations would be to just get a guy who knows about all of that tech stuff so the women have all the time to gossip and spread rumors.

You know something?  I think maybe here we have a good case for keeping the Humanities alive.  Perhaps this writer might be the first candidate for additional courses!

 Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.

Formal Season Greetings

Astral Facts, April 2011


Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Formal Season Greetings

Many of us have grown up in the “Disney generation” of stories of the princess who lives happily ever after in some splendid castle. Often this is preceded by some trials and tribulations which really didn’t seem so necessary. How nice it would be to just skip over the trials and tribulations and jump to begin a life in the castle episode, even though that’s usually the end of the Disney tale! Of course, the prince usually has had a good life, albeit a bit incomplete, up to that point, but we can imagine that things later only get better for him as well.

Disney’s stories do have roots from the cultural tales of the past, but even back then, people were concerned about recognizing the line between reality and fantasy. According to essayist Deborah Ross, many of the fairy tales and romance stories were created with a “didactic” tone, guiding young women into understanding the value of proper roles and attitudes in the social milieu.

Ross notes, “Samuel Johnson was greatly concerned about the effects of fiction on ‘the young, the ignorant, and the idle’" and critics worried that the readers [in the 1700s] would look to some of these stories not only as entertainment but also as a source for moral and social guidance. Ross also touches upon the writings of Charlotte Lennox’s 1759 novel, The Female Quixote, whose protagonist challenged some of the social norms of the day before finally dismissing her fantasies and settling down to the traditional feminine roles (“Escape From Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination”).  Other sources have noted that such writings inspired later writers, such as Jane Austen, to critically explore the aspects of the feminine role in a patriarchal society.

Ross concludes by noting that the Disney versions omit the stage of the female princess protagonist’s objections or other really revolutionary questioning of the social systems.

Of course, these days, our young females seem to have progressed beyond the romantic yearnings for that princess in the castle lifestyle that Barbie has also helped enforce.

We may think so, but those Disney girls, now mothers with their own daughters, and the media may still be playing that same old tune, reinforced in the educational system with the hopes of skipping over that trials and tribulation segment, in spite of any teenage angst in catching the wry.

Perhaps nothing reveals this as much as a trip to the local high school gripped in the frenzy of “Prom Season” as covered in a recent ABC news report.   Here's a link to the news spot; unfortunately, you have to sit through the 30 second commercial at the start  (Note that no fathers or potential Prince Charmings were harmed during the presentation):

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/video/extreme-proms-spend-13426389

So much for the impact of “reality” television! With a royal wedding coming up as well, all I can say is,

Roll me in Elsie’s glue, cover me with glitter, and point me toward the princess!

Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.

Mendacity in the Country

Astral Facts, March 2011

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Mendacity in the Country

In my freshman composition (English 101) class, students form groups and choose from a list of articles which they would like to teach to their classmates. Among them is a 1990 New York Times article written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “2 Live Crew, Decoded,” in which Gates defends the 1st Amendment rights of the controversial rap group.


Gates’ argument is that the content cannot be evaluated without first understanding the cultural background at its foundation. His point is that exaggeration and hyperbole are imbued in the culture, just as more mainstream cultural groups use the “tall tales” of the North to entertain. Due to the roots of slave oppression, African-Americans needed to create coded vocabulary to communicate among themselves while using what seems to be innocuous language.

These days, when the lyrics appear to cross beyond the innocuous, those in the mainstream culture can easily take the language content at face value, which Gates perceives as a problem at the receiving end. However, his commentary does not imply a blanket approval of the content, as he says,

“Still, many of us look toward the emergence of more female rappers to redress sexual stereotypes. And we must not allow ourselves to sentimentalize street culture: The appreciation of verbal virtuosity does not lessen one’s obligation to critique bigotry in all its pernicious forms.”

Obviously, he is concerned about the representation of the African American female stereotypes these lyrics portray, and back in 1990 he was anticipating a rebuttal to emerge from the community that is being misrepresented.It is now 21 years later and we might take a look to see what is happening in this cultural battlefield. Here is a posting by a group of young African American girls in response to content in the current music scene: (Although the presentation is by adolescent girls, expletives have not been deleted):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8nLCg6ZwjY&feature=player_embedded



Obviously, they didn’t post this up all by themselves, as the URL for a website does appear on the screen. (If you do go to the website advertised, you can find links to over 250 photos of women who would like to meet you!)


Those in the community do find it troubling:

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2011/02/15/profane-kid-video-demonstrates-the-need-for-our-own-revolution/


A ten-year-old’s letter to Lil Wayne:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu0SeTXjC74

But as one of the comments on the first YouTube notes, “kids will be kids.”

Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.

Astral Facts, February 2011



Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Figuratively Speaking

Often we hear questions about the arts and humanities – what role do they play? Why do we study the texts from literature, art, music, and such from the past?

Even though we may merely regard them as such, frequently the stories they tell are more than just a thrown together plot with action and exploding cars (Spike TV) or the emotional stress of building and/or destroying relationships (Lifetime TV) with stuff in between (the other channels).

In a recent Frazz cartoon in the daily paper on Feb 18th, (I haven’t reproduced it here because copyright laws are too complex for my simple mind, but here’s the URL: http://comics.com/frazz/), a student tells three others that he gets $5 for every A on his report card, but another student gets $10 for each one. The three students respond differently:

“My mom says learning is its own reward,”
“My dad pays himself $100 for every A I get,” and
“My mom pays me the same each year, but I have to get 15% more.”

 In the final panel, Frazz (the young custodian) asks “What did you learn?” and the student replies,

 “That Katie’s mom is still in school, Egan’s dad is a CEO, Isabel’s mom is a sales director, and why grown-ups don’t talk about their salaries.”

Like this scene, the “story” may be filled with information, but real “learning” occurs when we exercise critical thinking and analysis to understand what the details or information means and why it holds significance in application outside the “text” itself.

The repeated and familiar texts of a culture are vehicles that frequently illustrate and communicate thoughts and ideals that extend beyond each text itself. However, without a foundation of cultural literacy, the meaning may escape us.

This was brought home to me recently when a family friend mentioned someone had recently been offered a transfer away from his relatives to work in Hawaii, and the person had commented, “Don’t throw me in the briar patch! Don’t throw me in the briar patch!” Our friend thought that was a weird non-sequitur. When I asked my children to explain it, they were equally clueless.

So I went to the library and requested a copy of The Favorite Tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. A few days later over the after-dinner tea, I read aloud the story of “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby,” but they still didn’t understand. So I got another version (Jump Again: More Adventures of Brer Rabbit), translated from the original dialect of the “American South” and we read “Brer Rabbit in the Well” followed by “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.” Now they get it!

In a recent column on the sports page of the Seattle Times, a reporter interviewed a former player from the Mariners now finally achieving some recognition with another team after many years in the minor leagues. Knowing that several other successful players have had such difficult journeys, the reporter asked the player whose life he most identified with. The player responded, “Odysseus!” Try as he might, the reporter couldn’t recall which team Odysseus had played for. (Perhaps associating it with Homer might not even help, for so many players have hit homers?)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/larrystone/2014280945_stone20.html

A few years ago, I heard a minister describe a retreat he had attended with other religious leaders, and at one point they were asked to identify which biblical character they most identified with. Many of them named various of Jesus’ disciples and noteworthy Old Testament figures. However, one of them said he identified most with Balaam’s Ass, which the minister found quite apropos.

I had to look it up (the minister’s intention for telling the story), and I have to say I see the connection in education as well as I encourage my students to get off the path that wanders into merely noting and remembering details and information.

Hopefully, we can have a citizenry that looks beyond the plot details of life and relationships rather than just living on the surface level of chase and action scenes, although taking a break  to watch a car exploding or Bruce Willis blowing away some bad guys can be relaxing!

Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.

Where’s Ophiuchus?

Astral Facts, January 2011


Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Where’s Ophiuchus?

As we see the Year of the Rabbit occurring in early February and with other minor current events going on these days, perhaps it has slipped under the radar, and many of us may not be aware of the current controversy of the missing Astrological Sign: Where’s Ophiuchus?

As we know, the Astrological Year is divided into the twelve lunar months. However, they are referenced to the 12 solar months, which doesn’t really reconcile if a true lunar month is approximately 28 days (28 days X 12 months = 336 days.) Thus, about 29.25 days are used as “filler” to extend the astrological zodiac over the 365.25 days in the solar year.

The Chinese calendar is based purely on the lunar phases, which is why the lunar New Year shifts each year, with an extra month added each leap year to “balance” the discrepancies. Here’s the recent pattern:
2005 Feb 9
2006 Jan 29
2007 Feb 18
2008 Feb 7
2009 Jan 26
2010 Feb 14
2011 Feb 3
2012 Jan 23

(The Moslem lunar based calendar doesn’t make such an adjustment, which is why Ramadan, the month of fasting, occurs about 11 days earlier each year and the Islamic New Year occurs Dec 7th 2010, Nov. 26th 2011, Nov 15th 2012, etc.)

The recent controversy revolves around the “missing” month of the Zodiac: Ophiuchus, referred to as the “serpent bearer,” which used to be included in the astrological charts until the Babylonians dumped it (for reasons unknown) according to a recent New York Times report. Ophiuchus should fill the time from about Nov 30th until Dec 17th. As the Times reporter, Jesse McKinley, notes, this would make it “the unofficial sign of Holiday Shoppers,” implying this may be the source of the slithering behavior in the malls and highways at that time!

In Western culture, the snake or serpent has a negative connotation, going back to the days of Adam and Eve and the problems caused in the Garden of Eden. However, in Eastern cultures, the snake or serpent is regarded as a symbol of wisdom. (Curiously enough, in the Adam and Eve story the deception on the part of the serpent is only possible because the serpent has wisdom. Unfortunately, the serpent misused the wisdom.)

Ophiuchus is associated with an historical Egyptian figure, Imhotep (mythical Asclepius to the Greeks) reputed to have had wisdom and knowledge in the field of healing and medicine. Apparently, the Babylonians didn’t agree with his bona fides.

If you’re wondering how all this might affect you and/or pick-up lines out in the ‘hood, here’s the suggested revision:

ACTUAL TRUE ZODIAC


1. ARIES = APRIL 19 - MAY 13
2. TAURUS = MAY 14 - JUNE 19
3. GEMINI = JUNE 20 - JULY 20
4. CANCER = JULY 21 - AUG 9
5. LEO = AUGUST 10 - SEPTEMBER 15
6. VIRGO = SEPTEMBER 16 - OCTOBER 30
7. LIBRA = OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 22
8. SCORPIO = NOVEMBER 23 - NOVEMBER 29
9. OPHIUCHUS = NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 17
10. SAGITTARIUS = DECEMBER 18 - JANUARY 18
11. CAPRICORN = JANUARY 19 - FEBRUARY 15
12. AQUARIUS = FEBRUARY 16 - MARCH 11
13. PISCES = MARCH 12 - APRIL 18

Of course, the natural scientists know that the Earth tends to wobble on its pathway, with the North Pole often shifting to point at different stars, so the distinctions may be subject to adjustment.

Even so, according to Rob Brezsny, syndicated horoscope author, “Astrology is a poetic language of the soul, not a scientific method, similar to a Neruda poem, Kandinsky paintings or a Nick Cave song” (McKinley).

As Robert Frost has noted, “And that has made all the difference.”


Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.

Family Thanksgiving

Astral Facts, November 2010

(weather-delayed edition)

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Family Thanksgiving

While sitting in the dentist office waiting room last August, I was surprised to see a current issue of Newsweek on the table. This issue focused on the world’s top 100 countries, where the United States finished 11th overall (Some details are here:

http://www.newsweek.com/feature/2010/the-world-s-best-countries.html)

I was interested in the rating for education, where the US didn’t crack the top ten in education. (On the online chart, the US finished 26th, snuggled between Slovenia (27th) and Latvia (25th), far behind Finland (1st), as well as Kazakhstan (14th), and Cuba (20th).

The issue also included a sidebar commentary on what kinds of “fixes” might be considered.


1. Get kids into school as early as possible

2. Increase the time spent in school

3. Invest in teacher training


The researchers noted that American children spend half their waking hours outside of school, but children experiencing extensive preschooling at a young age, extended school days and years, and instruction from “effective” teachers do better.

As the section on education concluded: It may be difficult in some nations, but “…the fruits of this emphasis are still paying off in high test scores.”


A major problem is certainly being exposed here. I am sure everyone can see it plainly.


Of course, I am referring to how the emphasis on family is not only absent from the equation but also undermined.

Rather, the focus is on getting “good” test scores related to intellectual and factual knowledge and its application. How is “character” education being included or even acknowledged? What part of the curriculum includes respect for others, tolerance toward diversity, involvement in community service, etc?


I always thought the “first school” and basic education began within the family and the family continued to be the primary institution of learning in any stable society. However, the three points emphasized for reform combine to reduce the influence and involvement of the family. Is the cure really to put children in school at an earlier age, keep them in school more days and for a longer time each day, and place the responsibility for the children upon the “trained” educators in the school system?


In my freshman comp class, students read “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, where she discusses the nature and complexity of the languages we use in intersecting worlds we inhabit. In giving a lecture about her book The Joy Luck Club, she found herself using the formal structure of academic English. Later in conversing with her mother and her husband, she commented on the high cost of furniture by saying, “Not waste money that way.” She realized this was a perfectly normal statement to make “in our language of intimacy” that she had grown up with as a member of an immigrant family. In her article, Tan recognizes the different “Englishes” she combines in her writing:

The English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of a better term might be described as ‘simple’; the English she used with me, which …’broken’; my translation of her Chinese, which …’watered down’; and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese if she could speak in perfect English, her internal language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but with neither an English nor a Chinese structure. I wanted to capture what language ability tests can never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.

We also read and discuss “Children in the Woods” by Barry Lopez (referred to as “the nation’s premier nature writer" by the San Francisco Chronicle). Lopez owns some wilderness property in Oregon, where children frequently visit. He says the children often want to go into the woods with him. Lopez notes, “In the beginning, years ago, I think I said too much. I spoke with an encyclopedic knowledge of the names of plants or the names of the birds passing through in season.” He goes on to say that he learned later just to guide the children along paths of discovery from simple details they notice. He comes to realize,

In speaking with children who might one day take a permanent interest in natural history-as writers, as scientists, as filmmakers, as anthropologists-I have sensed that an extrapolation from a single fragment of the whole is the most invigorating experience I can share with them. I think children know that nearly anyone can learn the names of things; the impression made on them at this level is fleeting. What takes a lifetime to learn, they comprehend, is the existence and substance of myriad relationships: It is these relationships, not the things themselves, that ultimately hold the human imagination.

I would think such experiences as Tan and Lopez describe are important "astral" intangibles that the SAT, GRE, ACT, WASL (may it rest in peace), etc. overlook or even ignore. In this country, we see universities placing emphasis on community service, extracurricular activities, and personal narratives as much as the standardized tests that currently define “good” students.


Both my grandfathers died before I was born, so I never got to take a walk with them in the woods or discuss the olden day struggles with them; nonetheless, I learned a lot from my own father and mother about their lives and my own through our shared experiences as a family during the “down time” from school, something I make sure to do with my own children.


During this November and December festive holiday time when families traditionally gather, I hope everyone can have time for informal and internal education as a family, where tuition is cheap and priceless.

Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.