Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? ― T.S. Eliot, “Choruses from ‘The Rock’” In primary school, we are often taught to seek the “correct” answer. I remember being rewarded for memorizing and properly reciting the times tables, and learning the order of the alphabet. Critical thinking was introduced slowly, as book summaries became analyses and math solutions gained real world contexts. But, as is true with every t

I worked with a family friend, Jill Littlestein, who is a working artist and feminist in her mid-60’s on art. We discussed my summer reading mandatory books: Lord of the Flies (1954) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), and how unappealing they were at this time. She told me, “C’mon? Again with the old white men from the 1900s? Wow, they need to update the books and provide more diversity.” Jill was born in the mid-1950s and she opinionated on many ideals and lived th

Dear Childhood, I remember when I could curl up on the couch and stay there for hours. The vivid pictures of characters clearly written on the pages in front of me. Books, where have they gone from my life? Have they gone back to the world from which they came, to the lands I may never reach with my feet? Nowadays, I see no more of the mystical lands that books promise with their printed ink. Nowadays, I see flashing lights on a flat box, never to be able to tear my eyes away