Category Archives: Education

Before and Now and Thereafter

Long ago Long before Taylor Swift Man became Man How does not matter As what does not matter We existed Prey for all animals Saber-Toothed tigers, crocodiles, mosquitos ad infinitum Man was not atop the feeding chain Man was not on the bottom What saved us We smelled bad We tasted worst. And we learned […]

ANCIENT PORN by Peter Nolan Smith

Pornography is derived from the Greeks linking two words; prostitute and I read. The portrayal of sexual acts can be traced to pre-Ice Age. Scientist claim a naked figurine carved from a mammoth ivory was man’s first attempt at figurative representation. Opponents to this thought counter that lurid images were not found amongst the thousands […]

IMPURE AT HEART by Peter Nolan Smith

In the early 60s the nuns of Our Lady of the Foothills taught their students that our sins were punished in the burning fires of Hell, until then Mother Superior subjected the palms of potential heretics and religious backsliders to a cane. Whisperers and jesters suffered the yardstick. All of her victims were boys, for […]

1 + 1 = 2 Circa 1972

The simple addition of 1 + 1 is the first math learned by children. Addition is followed by subtraction, division, and multiplication. The nuns at Our Lady of the Foothills believed in the power of rote education and each student was expected to memorize the math tables from 1 to 12. Fingers and toes aided […]

Linear Algebra 101

Back in the 1960s most New Englanders’ were loss at sea when asked to count beyond ten on their fingers. Multiplication and long division flummoxed college students. Calculus was the Black Plague, but I loved the intercourse between numbers and in 1966 I was awarded a scholarship to Xaverian Brothers High School on strength of […]