You might notice how in many forms of African-derived music, a melody- and harmony-driven music will over the course of the piece devolve into domination (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
My new Web site
Probing Barr’s Brain
04/18/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentWhat if we had a probe we could insert into Wm. Barr’s brain and suck out his idea, concepts, ideals, motives, dreams, and purpose. What (Continue Reading)
Early influences on my views of African-Americans
04/17/2019 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsTwo books I recall reading as a kid: Louis Armstrong’s autobiography Satchmo! and Richard Wright’s Black Boy. The former the librarian wouldn’t check out to (Continue Reading)
Fruits of consistency
04/16/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentSince my surgery in December and my week off in Februrary, I have surged in the consistency with which I get to the gym. I (Continue Reading)
Nyah’s lesson #111, April 8, 2019
04/16/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentInitially we did some personalized stuff and I did a very poor job getting her to understand ‘son’, her. tprs says tell them what it (Continue Reading)
Nyah’s lesson #115 April 15 vr #24
04/16/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentI had to deal with “teal”, the color of the pen she wanted to use to take notes. I had no idea what ‘teal’ looks (Continue Reading)
The 5 Cs: Goals for Foreign Language Education
04/15/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentSubmitted for possible publication. ********************************************************************** Education is used here in two senses: the teaching of foreign languages (FL) and what the purpose of learning a (Continue Reading)
Nice summaries of danger
04/13/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentA.M. Joy had two guests on among others, Kendzior and Mehdi Hasan, both who laid out off the top of their heads the deep dangers (Continue Reading)
Compare this to any Niger/Chad/Congo horn section
04/13/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentAt about 7:05 on this you will hear the horns take over and then play any recording of the music deeply written about by Simha (Continue Reading)
Nyah’s lesson April 12, # 114
04/12/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentShe taught me a lesson in tprs today. She did not recall ‘conte de fees’ = fairy tales and I tried to remind her by (Continue Reading)
The stupidest congressman?
04/11/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentThomas Massie questioning John Kerry. Has any congressman ever said anything so stupid? Do you want me to quote him? Why are we told over (Continue Reading)
So you think you’re not prejudiced?
04/10/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentBeing married to a Black woman for 55 years about often gains me a pass on racial prejudice as a White man. Wrong. Just today (Continue Reading)
The essence of a Liberal’s outlook
04/10/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentGary Wills is half a decade older than me and I have admired and marveled at his broad sweep of expertise from the Classical World (Continue Reading)
Nyah’s lesson 112 April 9, 2019
04/09/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentI didn’t record this session but we did just one thing. I took the first chapter of the tprs book Pauvre Anne and wrote on (Continue Reading)
Together – Apart: a view of Western music
04/06/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentWestern Europe and West Africa have a lot in common in their musics and musical traditions but are also clearly distinct. Both regions and traditions (Continue Reading)
D’Souza vs Cortez!!!
04/06/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentSounds like fight night, right? No, it’s a disgusting conservative challenging the right of Puerto Rico to be considered an entity, an extant item in (Continue Reading)
The H word… is it time? Ask Beto
04/05/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentIs it now time to step over the line and begin the Hitler comparisons? I give you a paragraph of facts from a Joan Walsh (Continue Reading)
Settled into a routine
04/02/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentAt this point, I can say I am well settled into a routine of yoga Monday, Body Pump Tuesday, 40 push-ups on off-days and my (Continue Reading)
Turn about is fair play?
03/31/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentJulia Ioffe wrote in the Atlantic the first of last year (jan-feb 2018) that Putin’s interference in our election, which may or may not have (Continue Reading)
Nyah’s lesson # 110 March 29, 2019
03/30/2019 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsI gave Nyah a template for a fairy tale – conte de fees – hoping to get her to create a story. It went: Once (Continue Reading)
Nyah’s lesson #107 March 26, 2019
03/26/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentToday was the first time in a long time I tried classic tprs 3 sentences with 3 structures and circled everything methodically. Well, close. The (Continue Reading)
Observations on tprs teaching one student
03/25/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentSince I’ve fallen so far behind – to be remedied tonight – in transcribing parts of the lessons, I thought it would be good to (Continue Reading)
Nyah’s lesson #100 March 13, 2019
03/25/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentGoing over the script of Le Petit Chaperon Rouge cartoon. Started by playing the video from the beginning. An argument broke out over wearing something, (Continue Reading)