Tuesday, February 6, 2007

To blog or not to blog-what Bonnie has been doing

Is it necessary to give age and weight and Zodiac? John and I have been trying to cut back on things we have to do -- and then when we succeeded in cuting out a secretarial job for my literary group, and John dropped Kiwanis -- somehow we weakened and have become elders in our church. Oh, we said NO over and over - and then yes. I have warned them we can't hear and we're forgetful. But for fun I'm on a tear reading. Judy gave me Sara Paretsky's book "Fire Sale" and I tore through it. Then I finished Dr. Douglas Bey's biographical book about his experiences as a psychiatrist during the Viet Nam war. He was motivated by his experiences concerning post traumatic stress which is much reported in the present day Irag conflict. I enjoyed his book. Now I'm reading "A Beautiful Mind"... not a fast read like Fireside -- but very interesting. While the movie was based on John Nash, the book is quite different... the intersection of Princeton students, grad students, teachers and mathematicians. I learned that it wasn't until Woodrow Wilson reluctantly allowed a good friend that happened to be a mathematician to develop a program at Princeton....that math was really not strong in any colleges or universities in the US. Wilson thought liberal arts was where it was at -- as did most educators. World War II and the German mathematicians who came to the US made the difference. Of course, there were mathematicians, but little respect for their brilliance. Anyway, I think all the Plesko Family bloggers might enjoy "A Beautiful Mind."
John is reading "State of Denial" and we're both reading some poetry--Yeats, "The Song of the Wandering Aengus"...can't find what an Aengus is--help! .. and another poem by Elizabeth Bishop I Love called "One Art." The poem is a villanelle --you know, a style of poetry like a sonnet.

1 comment:

Todd Plesko said...

Great post mom.

I too have been reading. Finishing up Thomas Friedman's book "The World if Flat". Its a very significant book and probably a must read for Chris, Marni and all of the younger members of the clan.