The Burt behind — or at a distance from — Burt’s Bees has died: “Burt Shavitz, Scruffy Face of Burt’s Bees, Dies at 80” (The New York Times).
Elaine and I happened to watch the documentary film Burt’s Buzz (dir. Jody Shapiro, 2013) on Saturday. Its story was strange and sad: the guy whose face has sold who-knows-how-many tubes of lip balm turns out to have been exiled from the company that bears his name. Yet he still made appearances as a real-life brand emblem, when he would have liked nothing better than to stay on his thirty-seven acres. “A good day is when no one shows up and you don’t have to go anywhere,” he tells the camera. Saddest scene: Burt in Taiwan, using Skype to talk to — and then howl with — his beloved dog.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Burt Shavitz (1935–2015)
Magical thinking about poverty and education
My son Ben sent me something from The Atlantic that saddened him, a short piece asserting that “Fixing Urban Schools Without Fixing Poverty Is Possible.” Here’s the most saddening part, from Pamela Cantor, the founder, president, and CEO of the non-profit Turnaround for Children:
The argument that says we can’t fix education until we fix poverty is a false one. We can’t fix poverty or the other adverse events of children’s lives, but we can “fix” the impact of stress on the developing brain. In fact, we have to. We can and must teach schools and teachers how to do this now.There it is: we can’t fix poverty. But we can “‘fix’” (meaning?) its effects. I daresay that’s magical thinking.
CitizenAudit.org notes that in the year ending June 2014, Turnaround for Children Inc had assets of $16,387,573. The organization’s most recent Form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax) lists $7,437,077 in salaries for seventy-seven employees. The organization’s officers, directors, trustees, key employees, and highest-paid employees (no indication of their number) account for $1,349,525 in compensation.
*
1:57 p.m.: An interesting detail from Wikipedia’s Atlantic article: “The Atlantic Media Company receives substantial financial support from the Gates Foundation through the National Journal ($240,000+) to provide coverage of education-related issues that are of interest to the Gates Foundation and its frequent partner in education policy initiatives, the Lumina Foundation.”
A Sheffield contrivance
The Pequod’s carpenter, a human being seen as an array of tools:
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851).
A page from Egginton Bros Ltd traces the manufacture of pocket knives in Sheffield to the mid-to-late seventeenth century. The knives became increasingly complex, “with a multitude of other folding tools for various uses — spikes for removing stones from horses’ hooves, scissors, small saws, corkscrews, leather punches and even railway carriage door keys.” Here, for instance, is a Sheffield-made farrier’s or veterinarian’s knife, perhaps from the 1830s.
Also from Moby-Dick
“Nothing exists in itself” : Nantucket ≠ Illinois : Quoggy : “Round the world!” : Gam : On “true method” : “A certain semi-visible steam” : Ishmael, dictionary user
[Multum in parvo: much in little.]
Another Henry gum machine
Monday, July 6, 2015
Domestic comedy
“There’s nothing like the nostalgia of having worked hard.”
Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)
Mark Trail, reuse, recycle
[Mark Trail, July 4, 6, 2015.]
Mark Trail is an environmentally conscious comic strip. James Allen, like Jack Elrod before him, recycles. Some delightful examples: here, here, here, and here.
Yes, there are slight differences. The whites of Mark‘s eyes disappear; shadows move about. But it’s the same face, warmed over. Look closely, for instance, at the pixels of Mark’s ear. (How’s that for a twenty-first-century sentence?)
Related reading
All OCA Mark Trail posts (Pinboard)
Ishmael, dictionary user
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851).
Also from Moby-Dick
“Nothing exists in itself” : Nantucket ≠ Illinois : Quoggy : “Round the world!” : Gam : On “true method” : “A certain semi-visible steam”
[Samuel Johnson (1709–1784). A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).]
A joke in the traditional manner
How is cod shipped to a supermarket?
No spoilers. The punchline is in the comments.
More jokes in the traditional manner
The Autobahn : Did you hear about the cow coloratura? : Elementary school : A Golden Retriever : How did Bela Lugosi know what to expect? : How did Samuel Clemens do all his long-distance traveling? : What did the plumber do when embarrassed? : What happens when a senior citizen visits a podiatrist? : Which member of the orchestra was best at handling money? : Why did the doctor spend his time helping injured squirrels? : Why did Oliver Hardy attempt a solo career in movies? : Why did the ophthalmologist and his wife split up? : Why was Santa Claus wandering the East Side of Manhattan?
[“In the traditional manner”: by or à la my dad. He must take credit for all but the cow coloratura, the squirrel-doctor, and Santa Claus.]
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Contrapuntalism visits Eberhard Faber
Sean at Contrapuntalism recounts his recent visit with Eberhard Faber. With photographs and original patents.
Related reading
All OCA pencil posts (Pinboard)
Gary Saul Morson on English studies
Worth reading: Gary Saul Morson, “Why College Kids Are Avoiding the Study of Literature.” Morson suggests that academics kill interest in three ways: by reducing works to themes and terminology, by judging works in light of our own cultural and moral standards, and by treating works as documents of their times. None of which gives us a reason to read.
I think he’s on the mark.
Related posts
Hoagies, pizzas, and English studies
Jim Doyle (1944–2005) (“the why of poetry”)
Moby-Dick at Harvard
Verlyn Klinkenborg on the English major
[But why kids ? Students , please.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
