Nowhere can I find a write-up on this blog about a friend who exhibits cultural dexterity (a term I got from Sheryll Cashin, author of (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
Tolerance and dance styles
08/15/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentRecently on moretprs, several members voiced disapproval of the dancing of young girls on a video recommended for classroom use. When I pointed out that (Continue Reading)
Personal verification of effects of poor teaching of history
07/28/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentIn Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen sites the U.S. invasion of Bolshevik Russian 1919-20 and how history textbooks do not mention it. Such omissions (Continue Reading)
Did Roseanne Barr try to go to Starbucks today?
07/24/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentWritten the day Starbucks was closed for “sensitivity training” Roseanne Barr tweeted something gross. Actually, it was a calculated racist slur. Barr became an (Continue Reading)
Shot at
03/05/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentWith the school shootings offering up gun safety once again for the so-called national dialogue, I am reminded of the time when I was about (Continue Reading)
Are Christianity and sexual expression compatible?
12/31/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentI just watched a part of the program Say Yes To The Dress where brides pick their dresses and then their wedding ceremonies and receptions (Continue Reading)
Another memorial service with a twist
12/18/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe man was 97 years old, had been in CCC and the military in WW II. He started a business and was the first Black (Continue Reading)
How Obamacare Changed the Love Lives of Young Adults
11/24/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis is the title of a summary of research sent me by a friend. Overall, the statistics show that when young people have health insurance, (Continue Reading)
And yet another memorial service
07/31/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentContrary to long custom, the services for the deceased at the Pentecostal church my wife was raised in no longer feature a body. In fact, (Continue Reading)
What are they afraid of? This.
05/20/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentHere you see the combination of music and dancing in huge crowds, dancing with abandon and a lot of sexuality and some fighting, that scares (Continue Reading)
A unique concept with equivalents in various languages
04/28/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentOver the years, I have noticed each language has a word whose closest English equivalent is “compound”. Brian Barabe suggested the more descriptive “assembly area.” (Continue Reading)
My drive for synthesis reaches new heights
04/11/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentFriends say I am good at synthesizing disparate elements. I am better at that than at analyzing, but before synthesizing must come analysis. At times, (Continue Reading)
A petty aside
03/17/2017 Pat Barrett 8 CommentsJust an aside and a petty one at that: over a year ago I was derided for suggesting that some of our problems in education (Continue Reading)
Good example of Pentecostal worship style
10/12/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis video captures the spirit of the Pentecostal worship service I was exposed to. Notice, too, how many Whites in the congregation know how to (Continue Reading)
East is East and West is……… similar?
07/30/2016 Pat Barrett 1 CommentRecently I found a passage in a book on Urdu poetry which illustrated an approach to literature which contrasts with the Western approach. I mentioned (Continue Reading)
Annotating our culture
07/30/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentAnnotated literature draws me. I love reading it, esp in another language, where notes accompany the text to explain references. There are those who insist (Continue Reading)
National Identity & National Consciousness
05/07/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy book on Greek diglossia just came and I’ve been reading it. Interestingly, Greek national identity came from religion rather than common descent or language, (Continue Reading)
Masked traits, their survival, emergence and absorption
03/11/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentA terminological issue arises whenever we talk about the American culture. What so often happens is that what I call the Norwegian culture gets put (Continue Reading)
World Views and Perspectives: the origins of the Magnum Opus
03/10/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy world view is that the past makes up the present and past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. That human beings are (Continue Reading)
What is a dominant cultural trait of the U.S.?
02/24/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentSo often I talk about people’s culture. While there are many cultures in the U.S., we can ask if there is a general U.S. culture. (Continue Reading)
Tar baby
10/25/2015 Pat Barrett Add CommentToday my grandson and I were discussing what the GOP is going to do with its crazies. He said he had agreed with a lot (Continue Reading)
Norwegian time vs CPT
10/10/2015 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy wife never got to work on time. In 30 years as a professional, she was always about 10 minutes late. As a teacher, she (Continue Reading)
What do we know about cultures?
09/14/2015 Pat Barrett Add CommentLance wrote: “Careful…many traditional language teachers dismiss the “culture” in TPRS novels because it’s not packaged like a history survey course. I’m glad your community (Continue Reading)