Howdy MOQers: I'm just tickled to death that this review of "Small Wonder" has appeared in the Wall Street Journal. It's just so fitting that the idealized little red schoolhouse should be celebrated there, of all places, because the Journal itself started out as a family business, a mom & pop shop, if you will. And Wall Street itself began in a little red schoolhouse on an actual street named "Wall". Back in those days, there was an actual wall as well. It was one of those raw timber fortress-like things. It was little more than a row of big sharp sticks but it was effective. Anyway, when stock trading first began there in that little red schoolhouse on Wall Street, the brokers all swore a sacred vow to never chase after the gods of Progress and Bigness. And it's a good thing they did, too. A thing like could easily get out of hand if it ever caught up to the gods of Bigness or Progress. Thanks to the wisdom of those early founders, of course, the name "Wall Street" is practically synonymous with "small" and "quaint", not unlike the little red schoolhouse. Same thing goes for the Journal that published this review. Despite the fact that the nation's most widely read financial newspaper is the most recent acquisition of a global media corporations that owns radio stations, tv stations, newspapers and magazines all over the world, Murdoch's News Corporation remains firmly committed to smallness and a total lack of progress. There's a certain symmetry to the whole thing that strikes me as quite beautiful, as beautiful as painting by Norman Rockwell. I wonder if Rockwell ever painted a little red schoolhouse? I hope so. That would look real nice on a Hallmark card. Sincerely yours, Cheezie McSchmaltz III
> From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:16:55 -0400 > Subject: [MD] Another parallel > > Hi All, > > This seems to be the season for book reviews that parallel some of > observations made in the MOQ. For example, from a review of "Small > Wonder" by Jonathan Zimmerman in the Wall St. Journal comes this > summary:: > > "The idealization of the little red schoolhouse, Mr. Zimmerman > concludes, reflects a rueful awareness that in modernity Americans > 'gained the whole world of technological conveniences and lost the soul > of their communities'." > > Compare to Lila: > > "The world was no doubt in better shape intellectually and > technologically but despite that, somehow, the "quality" of it was not > good. There was no way you could say why this quality was no good. > You just felt it." (Lila, 22) > > The book reviewed is about one-room school houses that provided > the bulk of secondary education in 19th an early 20th century rural > America and how a number of important benefits of those schools have > been lost. The review concludes: > > "Even after Mr. Zimmerman's unsentimental accounting of its > defects, the one-room school shines in comparison with the over-large > and remotely controlled warehouses in which too many children are > educated today. Reading "Small Wonder," one wonders if Americans > will ever tire of chasing after the gods of Progress and Bigness and > rediscover the little things, red schoolhouses among them, that once > gave us our soul." > > I like "soul" as a synonym for Quality. And, I like the way Mr. > Zimmerman explains why the quality of modern education "is no good." > > You can read the entire review at: > > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124631953965570969.html > > Regards, > Platt > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ _________________________________________________________________ Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_QuickAdd_062009 Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
