Platypus of Truth

There's a lovely little puzzle game on sale now from the Square Enix Collective: Goetia . My wife and I have just finished this beautiful little French puzzle-solver and are thoroughly impressed. The basic mechanic is similar to the Myst  games or the Monkey Island  series. Tonally, however, Goetia  is an artful blend of Algernon Blackwood, H.P. Lovecraft, and Charles Williams. The plot is as gripping as the puzzles and we kept playing as much for the story and the eerie atmosphere as for the mechanic. Those who are squeamish about the occult elements the game's title suggests should know that it keeps a firm grip on Good and Evil and finishes off with a strong (but in nowise preachy) message about human nature.

Socratic Discussion, and teaching in general, require that we do a lot of bleeding. It's a form of transfusion really: our life blood sustaining our students even as they give theirs to sustain each other. We're not talking about self-harming or histrionic display: those waste life and kill good discussion by turning the focus on the giver and away from the goal of the gift which is power for LIFE. The life is in the blood . Being a good teacher, or a good discussion participant, means knowing when to bleed and when to staunch the bleeding. If we give all that we have, we bleed out, in clinical terms, we experience  Depression . Good teachers don't overshare. When they are vulnerable with their students, when they open a vein, it should fill a purpose in the lesson. As soon as the needed transfusion is delivered, self care becomes a imperative. You get a cookie after giving blood and told to avoid strenuous activity for the rest of the day. What does "bleeding...

Note: this is a reworking of an old blog post and appeared originally in the journal "Old Roads". Three friends have mentioned it in the past few weeks, so I thought that I would re-post it here. Favorite books are like old friends: they age with us, bringing new treasures as the years go by. One of my old companions has been Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. I was first introduced to this strange and wonderful novel in tenth grade as part of the literature curriculum.   Since then, I’ve made a habit of picking up Bronte’s master-work every few years.   It never disappoints.   Rather, as I grow and mature, there’s always some new facet of Jane Eyre that sparkles with a light I hadn’t seen before.   I’m sure I’m not the only one for whom Bronte’s tale of the orphan girl making her own way in the world is a perennial favorite.   For those of you who also appreciate the richness of one of England’s foremost Gothic and Romantic tales, I’d like to share two t...