Category: Holiday
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
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December 29, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Charity takes center stage this time of year. In Bleak House also, charity becomes a sort of character. Even limited to the first six chapters, Dickens explores a variety of charities. The protagonist, Esther Summerson, is introduced as an orphan in the care of her godmother who is a deeply religious woman. Esther’s godmother sees nothing but sin in the young girl and therefore treats her austerely.
July 7, 2023
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Summer recess makes me want to … read, of course! I spend hours lining up books to fill my spare time (of which there is very little actual spare time). The library is one of my favorite destinations and most of my summer reading list comes from there. (Thank goodness for public libraries!) As usual, my list is overly ambitious.
December 30, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
As 2022 comes to a close, we must explore the mixed meanings which come from an interaction of old and new. This year, for a quirky, somewhat strange aside, we supply some quotes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who explored the world through the voice of Sherlock Holmes. I hope that Holmes’s wisdom brings a smile to your face as you leave 2022 and embrace 2023.
December 23, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. Frost, an American icon, was one of few poets who achieved celebrity status. As the first poet to read at a Presidential Inauguration, he set many standards for our nation. Focused on country life, he explored themes which include capitalism, man and nature. His poems often feature impressive imagery.
July 1, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Breaks are necessary for both mind and body. However, taking a break does not necessarily imply idle behavior. Quite the opposite! When we have a break from our regular routine, we are able to do things the revitalize us. Rest allows for change which can recharge batteries drained from the rigor of the work week. Typically, humans enjoy puzzles,
October 29, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
When Gulliver travels to Brobdingnag, he describes many things with disgust. Therefore, it seems fitting, for a Halloween treat, to revisit some of Swift’s grotesque elements from the world of Brobdingnag. If you find this overly terrifying, keep in mind that Gulliver survives Brobdingnag and also that Swift revels in the hilarity of his tale (as do his readers).
January 1, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
“It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me, ooh, and I’m feeling good….” –Nina Simone
2020 has been a year of confusions. Of ups and downs. Though stability is always ephemeral, 2020 literally defined instability. I do not wish to catalog the complaints, but rather to reach into the new year embracing this cloak of darkness.
January 4, 2019
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Some members in my family celebrate New Year’s Eve with lutefisk or sauerkraut. Some people celebrate with both. I, however, draw the line at lutefisk. I just cannot stomach it. What seems to me to be a petty difference of taste really bothers others, though. They fear bad karma (or something) when I disrespect the tradition. We turn this into a joke at the dinner table,
December 28, 2018
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Heri za Kwanzaa means Happy Kwanzaa. Since Kwanzaa began on December 26, and since I know so little about the holiday, I thought that today was the perfect opportunity to learn about it. Also, due to the fact that I know so little about it, I would be happy for anyone to correct anything that I have posted. This post intends simply to touch the surface of the holiday.
June 29, 2018
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” – Winston Churchill
Alexis de Tocqueville recognized that democracy presented major changes in the political world which would also affect the social world.