Wed 9 Aug 2006
For some reason, my summer has been just as busy as Carmon’s. Since returning from Circe I haven’t had the time that I had hoped to have to write out my notes, re- listen to the lectures and read my new stack of books.
Today we are out the door again. This time for a quick trip to Tennessee to let the boys meet the baseball coach at Bryan College. I am taking the little guys over to look at the house a family has offered to rent to us. We weren’t expecting this development but we hope to be renting this house which is smack dab in the middle of a huge farm, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. We can hardly wait for our 5 year old to meet the 3 dogs that live on the farm.
I may yet win my agrarian bona fides.
I will be listening to The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis in the van and hopefully Vigen Guroian’s wonderful lecture on why business majors should take literature courses. Did I tell you that Vigen wore a pink shirt, wrinkled pale suit, navy blue socks and green & yellow striped bowtie? He has a mass of silver hair which he ruffles appropriately when speaking. He looks to be a cross between an absent-minded Professor and a hobbit. Which reminds me: John Mason Hodges looked like Gimli or at least John Rhys-Davies. You won’t find this sort of reporting from Circe anywhere else on the web.
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Enjoy your trip, enjoy the rest of your summer and we will wait for more thoughts on CIRCE.
P.S. That was an excellent repost over at MMV, thanks for linking it.
Comment by Margaret in VA (August 9, 2006 @ 1:01 pm )
OK, Cindy, I just can’t imagine why you haven’t gotten nearly what you expected done. Happens to me all the time, and I’m not even trying to get my house up for sale and make a move to another state.:-0
Too funny about Vigen. You’re right–I bet no one else on the web is reporting those particular tidbits of information. The workshop on teaching literature to business majors was one I attended, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Comment by Patti (August 9, 2006 @ 8:18 pm )
“why business majors should take literature courses”
Isnt this just the basis of a *liberal arts education*? I’m scratching my head here a little, Cindy. I’m thinking you already are in favor of liberal arts educating, whether it’s at the elementary level or collegiate.
One brother, (now a surgeon) was an English major in college! One s-i-l went to a *strictly* music school, and then never went into that field. Oh well.
Carmon’s comments are conspicuously absent. Wondering what she thinks of Circe?
Comment by Dana (August 10, 2006 @ 5:58 am )
Dana,
I think it was Vigen who said his son now owns a successful (apparently very successful) computer business but he went to a small all-male liberal arts college and majored in English. He never took even one computer course in college.
I am not sure what Carmon thinks. Carmon and I are kindred spirits but not cut from the same cloth altogether. I very much appreciate what she does with her children and my guess is that her children are far superior academically to mine.
The liberal arts have always been my joy and love. I don’t know why. My own education was woeful and I am still trying to remedy that.
My own father received a classic liberal arts education for several years in jr high and some highschool. He speaks frequently on how this short period influenced his whole life. His mother was responsible for encouraging him to attend Walnut Hills in Cincinnati.
Comment by Cindy (August 10, 2006 @ 9:33 am )
Cindy, how neat about your father and his education.
Dana, what made Vigen’s stance about teaching literature to business majors was that the class was “Business Ethics” So students learning about business ethics through literature was the unusual thing. A lot of them didn’t like that. Vigen says he “got away with it” for about three or four years, and then students started complaining.
Comment by Patti (August 10, 2006 @ 9:46 am )
Thanks to both Cindy and Patti for your clarifications. I am enjoying this *series*
Comment by Dana (August 10, 2006 @ 11:26 am )
Cindy,
Tell me what you think of Tennessee. My husband grew up in the same town in which George Grant now lives. I have a couple of connections with him, though I have never met him personally. I LOVE middle Tennessee, as they call it. So beautiful. We lived there for 7 years and had our first 3 boys there.
Drive safely.
Mandy (in SC now)
Comment by Mandy (August 10, 2006 @ 3:10 pm )
Ow! My ears are burning…
Comment by Carmon (August 11, 2006 @ 1:32 am )
Mandy,
We don’t live too far from Franklin now and drive over there frequently. We have been searching for houses in 4 towns in the Dayton area. Each town is prettier than the next. I told the children no matter where we live in TN we can be sure it will be beautiful.
Honestly, TN has got to be the lovliest state in America.
Comment by Cindy (August 11, 2006 @ 7:06 am )
Amen to that, sistah! Even the “non-agrarian” areas, like downtown Chattanooga, are beautiful! When my dad visited us here a few years ago, his first comment, after driving from Nashville to Chattanooga was, “Well, you sure have a LOT of trees!”
Comment by Linda (August 12, 2006 @ 7:39 am )