David Foster

Dresden, “Dresden,” and Obama’s Visit

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Dresden, once known as “Florence on the Elbe” because of its beauty and culture, is now best known for its destruction by British and American bombers in February of 1945. “Dresden” is the name of a haunting movie, originally made for German television, about a love affair in the doomed city.

Dresden is of course also the German city that Barack Obama intends to visit–for reasons best known to himself–during his current trip to Europe. It seems like this would be an appropriate time to review the film (which I watched a couple of months ago via Netflix) and to use it as a springboard for discussion of the Dresden bombing and of the WWII strategic bombing campaign in general.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the film. I’ve tried to minimize the spoilers, but some are inevitable.

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Worthwhile Reading

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Here are some items I thought might be of interest to Chicago Boyz and Chicago Grrlz and Readerz.

Megan McCardle on the moral infrastructure of capitalism.

via the Assistant Village Idiot, who adds thoughts of his own.

The seen and the unseen–an important article on political decision-making, written by a law school professor and drawing on the work of Frederic Bastiat. Highly relevant to the discussion over Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

via Betsy

A long and well-written comment on my post the age of blather by kathteach. I am (sadly) willing to believe her when she says that few students now learn the art of reading carefully and analytically: however, I remain unconvinced that jargon such as “self-to-self connections” really helps in addressing the problem. Anyhow, the comment (at the end of the thread, at least at the moment) deserves to be read.

Bill Waddell has a baseball analogy for the way in which certain F500 manufacturing companies are run. But after reading about the backround of Obama’s point man on General Motors, I’ve been racking my brains trying to extend the analogy. Maybe someone who was selected as manager of a baseball team after impressing the owner while working on his (the owner’s) campaign for the city council?

Or maybe another analogy entirely.

Now, Brian Deese is probably–unlike the political appointees mocked by Gilbert & Sullivan in the above song–a very bright guy. He may even be a briliant guy. But I venture to say he would never have been selected for this job if his career path had actually been centered around working for companies that actually make things and sell them. Nor, of course, if he had the precise background and skills that he does have but had been working for the losing campaign.

The Age of Blather

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Diana Senechal, guest-blogging at Joanne Jacobs, tells the following story:

I run two lunchtime literature clubs at my school. The fourth graders just finished reading A Little Princess. During our discussions, I encourage delving into the text and discussing it on its own terms. I am not a big fan of “accountable talk,” “making predictions,” “making connections,” and so forth when they assume precedence over the subject matter itself.

One student brought up the part where Sara spends her money on hot buns for a beggar girl. “She made a self-to-self connection,” the student said. I felt sorry that students are learning such ghastly terminology, however well meant. Why are students not encouraged to say, “She understood how the girl felt” or “She felt compassion for the girl”?

Why, indeed? It’s bad enough to impose verbiage like “self-to-self connection” on college students: to do it to a 4th grader is really unforgiveable. It adds nothing to understanding–indeed, it very likely interferes with the true understanding and appreciation of the story by creating an emotional distance.

Strange, awkward, and unnatural verbal formulations, used ritualistically and without contributing to understanding, are becoming increasingly common in our society: although this phenomenon is arguably at its worst in education, it is by no means limited to that field. These word and phrases are not similar to the traditional jargon of a profession or trade. “Self-to-self connections” is not the same kind of thing as “amp” or even “kanban.”

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Worthwhile Reading

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A few items for your Monday reading pleasure:

In a commencement speech, the CEO of Questar Corporation takes on some popular myths about energy.

A professor of English who teaches at the U.S. Naval Academy has thoughts about the teaching and mis-teaching of his subject:

We professors just have to remember that the books are the point, not us. We need, in short, to get beyond literary studies. We’re not scientists, we’re coaches. We’re not transmitting information, at least not in the sense of teaching a discipline. But we do get to see our students react, question, develop, and grow. If you like life, that’s satisfaction enough.

Interesting description of the typical reaction of his students to Madame Bovary, and about the ways in which he tries to establish a connection between this character’s feelings and their own.

(via Newmark’s Door)

Finally, some not-so-cheerful thoughts from Arnold Kling:

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Cool Startup Story

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Fortune (5/25) has a story about a Duluth, MN startup called Magnetation. The company’s founders (now 78 and 83) have developed a process for recovering useable iron ore from the millions of tons of tailings left as waste from previous mining activities. There are millions of tons of this stuff in northern Minnesota. The Fortune story isn’t available on-line yet, but the company website is here.

Not all startups are centered around computer technology or biotech.