Stuff We Like :: 12.1.17

It’s December!

Around the web

Ooh, I love this list of alternatives to books by Dead White Men.

A great (and upsetting) breakdown of why net neutrality matters to your everyday Netflix habit

I loved this: The beginning of silent reading changed Westerners’ interior life

This essay asks some good questions: Have white women colonized children’s literature? And if so, what can we do to change things?

At home/school/life

on the blog: You don’t have to teach geography to have kids who know geography

also on the blog: The Greenglass House is the perfect early winter readaloud

one year ago: An Ellis Island unit study

two years ago: Rebecca reviewed a curriculum designed to put the fun back in the holidays

three years ago: Mindful homeschool: I am thankful for my homeschool life

Reading List

After many, many recommendations, I am finally getting around to The Fifth Season, the first book in N.K. Jemison’s Broken Earth series, and I am already so hooked that I am hiding in the bathroom to finish a chapter. Please let it keep being this good.

I’m reading Othello with my AP English class, and I am completely obsessed this read-around with the idea that Iago is a stand-in for Shakespeare — he’s totally stage-managing the entire play, right down to creating the dialogue for people to say. This is weirdly fascinating to me — what could it mean if Shakespeare sees himself in Iago’s “motiveless malignancy?” One of my students really needs to write a paper about this.

Also in work-related reading: Plato’s Symposium, which is so much easier going than the Republic, especially when reading them back-to-back.

I have already bought two copies of this book to give as holiday presents. 

At home

We’re moving on to Project Runway Junior season two! I’m also looking forward to getting through season 2 of Stranger Things, season 2 of Agent Carter, and season 3 of Broadchurch over the break, even though that seems pretty ambitious.

I am sort of hooked on this Civil War podcast. I have added another loop to my morning dog walk to fit in more listening time.

I do not feel ready for the holidays, but I am hoping making some tiny sufganiyot this weekend will help get me in the spirit.

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