I’m a high school teacher. Many of my students misbehave regularly, and most of them misbehave at least occasionally. The question is as old as it is contentious: How do we properly impel our students to behave properly? The traditional answer is corporal punishment: Spank students when they don’t do as expected, and they’ll stop…
Author: Clio
The Fault in Our Genes
Alexander Yarde recently wrote, “Toxic masculinity is not women’s fault.” It was even bolded, lest people miss it, and it followed Yarde placing the heavy lifting of repairing the problem on “cis straight men.” A few months ago, I wrote about toxic masculinity, myself. And, while the title specifically focused on supporting a role for men that…
A Tale of Two Statues
There are two statues on Wall Street that have been getting considerable discussion lately. Since 1989, Arturo Di Modica’s “Charging Bull” has stood in the Wall Street district, a “symbol of virility and courage” and “determination and hard work” meant to “celebrate the can-do spirit of America” (quotes from his website). In March of 2017,…
Getting Into the Mx.
Language is constantly changing to suit the needs of its speakers. When I was a child, a major shift was occurring in support of feminism. Formerly-gendered terms like “policeman” and “fireman” became “police officer” and “firefighter” in order to recognize the growing presence of women in those careers. “Spouse” and “partner” gained prominence alongside gendered…
Writing Rationals with the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic says that all integers greater than one can be written uniquely as the product of prime numbers. Another way of stating this is that, if \(P = (p_1, p_2, p_3, …)\) is the (infinite) set of all primes, in order from least to greatest, and \(K = (k_1, k_2, k_3,…
‘Gifted’ is a Gift
Movies about prodigies generally focus on the extraordinary talents of the child, while the conflict revolves around protecting the child from someone who wants to exploit or destroy them. “Gifted” (currently in limited release, releasing nationally on April 21) starts with a different goal: protecting the prodigy from the social alienation that comes from their…
Another page
i did not dream so deeply as i did that night, when beneath the cloudless sky, the moon perched within the chill of air, an ocean dotted with infinities of stars sleep came ragged, but the dreams washed over me and pulled me deep into their undercurrent dreams of my childhood, drenched in clarity, picked…
Geometry Limericks
Two circles surrounding a squareWas more than the poor thing could bearIt made itself fetal‘Til planar was hedralCylindrical nets are a snare! Isometry! Great celebration!But tragedy followed elation,When off of the gridThe image got slid.The pre-image, lost in translation. A circle can hardly affordTo argue with segments, good Lord!When a disc meets a lineIt is…
A trio of math limericks
Inspired by Math with Bad Drawings, here a trio of my own limerick creations: Two circles surrounding a square Was more than the poor thing could bear. It made itself fetal ‘Til planar was hedral. Cylindrical nets are a snare! Isometry! Great celebration! But tragedy followed elation, When off of the grid The image got…
The Color of Strawberries and the Curse of Knowledge
A recent meme asks: What color are the strawberries? Most people will see the strawberries as being red even though there is no “red” pixel in the image. Our minds fill in the red because of our experience with strawberries, and because we can tell the entire image has a blue filter. There is an…