Links for August 24, 2009

Once again, I’m using my Delicious autopost thingie to flag some things for Jane’s perusal. Will probably do this more and more often; it’s such a handy way to bookmark interesting pieces for my teen to read at her convenience.

Jane—a couple of related articles—this piece by Michael Pollan (I loved his book, The Botany of Desire) and then a farmer’s rebuttal to Pollan’s article.

• The Food Issue – An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief – Michael Pollan – NYTimes.com –
• The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals — The American, A Magazine of Ideas – response to the Michael Pollan piece


And one other about new/old ideas in college teaching:

• ‘Teach Naked’ Effort Strips Computers From Classrooms – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education – “When students reflect on their college years later in life, they’re going to remember challenging debates and talks with their professors. Lively interactions are what teaching is all about, he says, but those give-and-takes are discouraged by preset collections of slides.”