Syria, Disruption and Life

     After reading a article in The Economist on Syria, I have to wonder what it would be like to be a teacher in such an unpredictable strife ridden environment.  The struggle between a secular government and those that want a theocracy, the struggle between sects of the same faith, groups getting their vengeance on each other among the chaos, the strient efforts of the government to gain control, etc.  Those are just the rumblings of political and religious power.
     What about the daily lives of people?  Meals, work, shelter, hope.... Such a daily struggle is mysterious to most American and as foreign as the country itself.  Just musing.

The "Van Buren Effect"

Martin Van Buren is the only vice president to be elected directly into the office of president in the history of the United States.  That is the primary cause for the name of this blog since my intent is to become the foremost authority on the history of the office.  I think the field of experts is small and I am very interested in the institutional office of our government, this one is perfect to study from its inception as part of the electoral college process to the modern office with its myriad of roles and responsibilities in the modern time.

Michelle Rhee, Radical

     I just saw the interview of Michelle Rhee on Charlie Rose touting her new book, Radical.  While I do appreciate her passion and willingness to push reform I do not like her methods or the fact that she has only three years of classroom experience from a Teach for America assignment.  The following ten years she spent as a "reformer" before becoming chancellor of the D.C> schools from which she has a disputed record.

     She is currently the founder and CEO of StudentsFirst.  I will probably read her book to see what agenda she is pushing.  In the end she is Princeton trained politician with education as her policy specialty.  There has to be a balanced approach that will work, of course, not everyone will be happy.

   She did frankly admit to some mistakes, like firing a principal on camera.  She is a polarizing figure whether you like her or not.

Foreign Affairs, was worth it

    I do love this periodical but I have to cut costs and I find myself not being able to devote the time and thought in reading it that it requires.  Foreign Affairs over the years has been the sources for many seminal articles explaining, directing or suggesting policy for American foreign relations and for this reason was on my subscription list.  However, we all have to make sacrifices.  I will have to stick to two more popularly written magazines, American History and Military History to keep my brain stimulated.  Another reason to keep these two, I plan to publish in them.                          
                                                                                                                  

Edmund Morris, Biographer and Historian

Mr. Morris has authored what I consider the definitive biographical series on Theodore Roosevelt which really forms a trilogy.  They are The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt.  There is an excellent interview of Mr. Morris by Charlie Rose which is easily accessible on YouTube, well maybe.  I just did a search but I know it is out there as I used it in a powerpoint with my college survey course.  His writing is very accessible and I found myself easily following the narrative pace that Mr. Morris set without much difficulty.  Which I can honestly say is not achieve very often as I try to struggle through some presidential biographies.

May be copyrighted
 taken from  www.register citizen.com

So thank you, Mr. Morris, for such find work.. You so richly deserved the Pulitzer Prize for the first Roosevelt bio that you completed and all of the praise that you have received for Colonel Roosevelt.  While your other biographical subjects do not interest me, your Roosevelt trilogy holds a high honor on my presidential biography bookshelf.  

The Economist

Time to get back into writing on this thing.  I have to get back into a habit of writing everyday and this could be the part of a good start.  So, today, I wanted to share that for the past several years I have had a subscription to The Economist and I enjoy it very much.  The news may be a bit dated since I have a billion news apps on my iPad2 but the viewpoint, which is not American, is refreshing to me.  In addition, it is intellectually stimulating which is harder to find in daily or weekly newspapers.  Since I am trying to improve my knowledge of economica and economic history, this newspaper really serves me well.

   Dan, since you are the only follower, do you read The Economist? In the infamous words of Katie Kouric, what newspapers do you read to stay informed and help shape your world view?