Curated themes and highlights on specific movie stars are a great jumping off point that never claim to be exhaustive. It’s not something an algorithm can achieve. That’s why losing Tabesh was a code-red alarm for anyone who cares about TCM. Curation takes a wealth of knowledge of movies, but not just knowing a bunch of titles that have been said to be similar, but the movies that haven’t been associated together before. Real programming makes you see movies you’ve seen already differently when curated with other movies and TCM has done that time and again.
For the record (and Emily states this in the piece), Charlie Tabesh has been rehired as chief programmer at TCM, but the fact that he was ever let go in the first place speaks volumes about how much Warner under David Zaslav cares about TCM, which is the single most valuable entity to classic film fans over the past several decades. I’m not unworried.📽
I could give so many other examples of disempowerment at Threads, but nothing makes me feel less in control of my experience than my timeline. It’s not really my timeline—it, too, belongs to Emperor Z.
It took Facebook many years to figure out how to limit my control over my information feed. In the early days, I connected with family and friends and got access to everything they shared, starting with the most recent post.
That’s what users want. But over time, Facebook learned that it was more profitable if corporate HQ controlled my timeline, not me. And they found all sorts of ways to do this.
Threads is starting out with the benefit of all that learning. So don’t expect that you will follow somebody on Threads, and get a chronological feed of what they post. Instead you find that:
The Emperor (and his large Imperial Guard) decide how much timeline control is given to algorithms, instead of you. They won’t tell you how they make this decision, but I think it’s safe to say the algorithm has the upper hand.
The Empire decides if you see advertisements, and when, and how often.
The Empire decides if you get to see what a friend is posting.
And, of course, the Empire decides what is allowed, what is prohibited, what is prioritized, and what is trending.
So how should educators proceed? In her Rules: A Short History of What We Live By (2022), historian of science Lorraine Daston recalls another sort of “rule” that we might apply. That is the ancient understanding of “rule”—kanon in Greek and regula in Latin—as “model” or “paradigm,” preserved in English in a formula such as “The Rule of St. Benedict.” Daston argues that “paradigmatic rules” are especially useful because, unlike laws, they do not demand special dispensations (or litigation) when exceptions arise or drastic revisions when circumstances change. “Rules-as-models are the most supple, nimble rules of all,” Daston writes, “as supple and nimble as human learning.”
The model may be to some extent codified, but Daston stresses that this kind of rule’s enactment depends on the relationship between those who provide the model and those who imitate it. In The Rule of St. Benedict, the abbot holds his post because he doesn’t simply know the rule; he embodies it. The abbot, in turn, exercises discretion over the application of the code to promote the good of the members of and visitors to the community. Those under the rule strive to emulate this model person—not just “the rules”—in their own lives. “Whether the model was the abbot of a monastery or the artwork of a master or even the paradigmatic problem in a mathematics textbook, it could be endlessly adapted as circumstances demanded,” Daston observes. The ultimate goal of such a rule is not to police specific jurisdictions; it is to form people so that they can the carry general principles, as well as the rule’s animating spirit, into new settings, projects, problems. We need a new Rule of Education—one that grants educators discretion and is invested in students’ formation—for the age of AI.
This shift in understanding rules as restrictions to rules as formation is amazing and I love it.
What a mind-boggling tragedy. 9.5 million dead, 15 million wounded. Three empires disintegrated. In the span of four years. I always talk about how much WWI changed the world and how that’s reflected in Modernist literature but now I don’t think I talk about it enough. This was recommended to me as the best one-volume history of WWI and it was great.
Initially seemed like mostly a retread of Glass’s In Vital Harmony with a bit too much repetition, but in the second half it really picked up and it’s excellent on the idea of synthetic vs analytic learning. Lots of aha moments.
Our initial choice tonight was Oklahoma, but APPARENTLY my DVD of it is non-anamorphic, so that was a no-go. Girl Crazy already had the happy side effect of my 5yo deciding to give us a tap-dancing show!
I loved Glass’s book In Vital Harmony that runs through Charlotte Mason’s main principles of education. So beautiful. This one tied Charlotte Mason’s theories of education to the classical tradition and shows how much they’re doing the same thing. I teach in a classical school and have been trying to get more Charlotte Mason ideas into my school, and I’m looking forward to help from Glass! :)
Really interesting read from a pair of liberal academics talking about how postmodern Theory and its offshoots (critical race theory, queer theory, post colonial theory, etc) are really not the best way forward for anyone. They do a good job of describing each theory and its tenets (some of this is pretty esoteric stuff), and their viewpoint as liberals (not conservatives) is fascinating on this topic.
I don’t think I’ve seen this since it was in theatres. I had forgotten David Tennant was in it! Having just read the book with my 10yo it was really clear how much they cut and how basically jumbled and abrupt and unclear the film is as a result. I’m okay cutting the house elf stuff, but Rita Skeeter was very underused, and Hermione basically had nothing to do but hang on Viktor Krum’s arm. (To be fair that’s almost true in the book, too.) My daughter just kept muttering “this isn’t how it’s supposed to be”. Everyone’s a critic. I will say I liked how the film highlighted Neville’s sweetness in the Yule Ball section. He’s so adorable.📽
I’m seriously considering getting a full set of print encyclopedias. I would have chosen Britannica but apparently they ceased print publication in 2012 and the only print encyclopedia still releasing new editions is World Book. Either way, I will need a new bookshelf first!
Checked on my school room yesterday and it looks great - new paint and carpet - except all the furniture from a different room is stored in there (mine is in the hall). Ha. My dream last night: we had to start school and none of the rooms had been put back in order. 😱
Got to share Into the Woods with my 10yo last night! It was a fantastic production and cast. Loved every minute of it and so did she. Bonus: now we can watch the Bernadette Peters recording. (I was saving it until we had a chance to see it live.)
“The title of this essay, “Education as if Truth Mattered,” is taken from the subtitle of Christopher Derrick’s book, Escape from Scepticism: Liberal Education as if Truth Mattered, published in 1977. Derrick’s subtitle was itself borrowed and adapted from the subtitle of E. F. Schumacher’s international bestseller, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, published four years earlier. Derrick and Schumacher were friends, the former being instrumental in introducing the latter to the Church’s social teaching, and the two books have much more in common than their ostensibly different subjects would suggest. In both cases, the authors illustrate how modernity’s philosophical materialism has undermined the very foundations of civilized life and how the solution to the problem is a return to traditional concepts of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Schumacher turned to the wisdom of the ancients to help him understand the defects of the economy; Derrick turned to the wisdom of the ancients to correct the defects of the academy. Whether considering the plight of the economy or the academy, both men showed how the denigration of the good, the fragmentation of the true, and the destruction of the beautiful have resulted in a world that is bankrupt in terms of true wealth.”
