Old Jews Telling Jokes

Ed Pressman, “Fishing Trip”

Ed Pressman tells me that he has recently retired from the paper industry. “Like the schmatta business,” he says, “the printing paper business in New York has gone to that great industrial graveyard in the sky.” Also, he wants to know if we think he has a future in stand-up.

It is in the details

Some of the details of our beautiful auditorium at the Des Moines Scottish Rite. Click on a photo to enlarge it.

November Sunrise

The rising morning sun awakens the farm and fields.

Something to think about

I started a new book today. Albert Pike: The Man Behind the Monument. Pike was the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite from 1859 - 1891. I read the following paragraph and it got me to thinking.

...Pike was writing more than a century ago, and people were much more accustomed to reading then. One computer program I have tests the reading level of material. The average newspaper story today is written somewhere between the fifth and the ninth grade reading level -- as we now define those levels. When I measured several newspaper stories from the late 1800s (...), I found they averaged the fifteenth grade level -- the level of a junior in college. And these stories were read and understood by people who, on average, did not past the third grade. One wonders what has happened to our standards.

Jim Tresner writing in Albert Pike: The Man Behind The Monument

I have found over the years that people who read are better writers and are able to learn new concepts and ideas better than those who do not. When I was teaching at Lynn-Mar schools in Marion, Iowa I became very disenchanted with the basal readers that we forced the students to read and then answer questions about the text. The writing was "watered down" to a simpler level and if you were reading a classic and compared it the richness of the language just wasn't there. The students were not challenged to learn new words.

Students could read material which was above their usual reading level and the dumbed down basals did not challenge them. If a student encountered a word which she or he did not understand they could still get the meaning of the piece of reading by skipping over that word and reading in context. Then most of them could understand the meaning of the words which they read.

I went to the Reading Consultant and suggested a new way of teaching reading. Let's put the Basals away and allow the students to read entire books. Instead of answering questions about the text we would have conversations about the book. She gave permission and we did it and the students made about two years of growth in reading that year. I remained convinced to this day that for students to become better readers and writers they must read, read, read.

And of course, the biggest deterrent to reading is the television set. But that is another story.

Thanks for stopping by, ARTYAL, Hugs, j

Photo's From St. Ignatius Conlave

To see these in a larger size click on the slide show to be taken to the Picasa Web Album and you can view a larger version there. (Note you will have to click on Full Screen and then start it yourself.)

There are two Conclaves in Iowa - St. Ignatius Conclave and St. Bartholomew Conclave. Their web sites have bee updated. Click on their name to visit them.

Des Moines and Ginny's Liza

Click to embiggen

This was the view as I drove through downtown Des Moines (That is the Capitol on the left) on my way to meet Kurt and the kids for supper. I was coming down for a movie and since Lyssa was working I suggested that we could eat as I had something to get to him. We had a nice supper at Monteray Mexican Restaurant and then I went to the Fluer Theater to see the Movie "The Men Who Stare at Goats." It was a typical funny Clooney movie and I came away from the eveing feeling really good. I was able to do something nice for my friends and got to see a great film.
Miles was sleeping in the corner just now and barking in his sleep. So cute.Ginny sent pictures of her new dog and I wanted to share them with you.

Tomorrow I go to Cedar Rapids to attend St. Ignatius Conclave, Red Cross of Constantine. I always enjoy their meetings. I am setting this to post at 1:00 PM.

Have a great week-end, Thanks for stopping by- Always Remember That You Are Loved - Hugs, j
The writng below is from the e-mail Ginny sent with the photos.

I am attaching photos of Liza and the area around the tennis court behind our apartment where we were today.One is towards Riss Lake and the complex office and the one of the building our apartment is in (bottom right is my bedroom window.

Liza stayed close to me even after I took her leash off.

She comes when I call her and I am working on getting her to sit and stay. She has gone all week without any accidents in the house. She is paper trained but my goal is for her to "ask" to go outside. Still planning on taking her to obedience class starting in January.

Bob's Antarctic Adventures

Do you recognize the above? Antarctica is the earth's southernmost continent. Wikipedia says that:

Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents

This is some of what you might see while there.

Click on picture to find out about the ship he will call home.

My friend, Bob Kelly, a retired sixth grade teacher, and photographer who readers of this blog will know from the many Bob's Photos which he has graciously allowed me to publish (click on the Tag below to see them) on this blog is off on an incredible 23 day adventure which will cover over 22,000 miles and explore the islands of the Antarctic and the Antarctic Peninsula, then continue to South Georgia Island, onto the Falkland Islands, and back to Santiago, Chile. Then he will travel westward to Easter Island about 2300 miles west of Santiago, far out into the Pacific Ocean. He has begun a Blog for those who wish to travel vicariously with him. While he has not left yet the anticipation is there and the blog is prepared with lots of background information (Did I mention that Bob is a teacher?) Neil Armstrong is going to be on the trip with him and that is an added incentive to follow along. Below is the Masthead for Bob's Blog. Click on it to be taken to Bob's Antarctic Adventures. (For your convenience it is also linked on the sidebar. Or you can always subscribe and be updated as he posts.