[journal entry] on Aspasia (as told by Plato, Cicero, Athenaeus, and Plutarch

Even though the history around her is “cloudy,” to say the least, Aspasia must have actually been an influential teacher of rhetoric.
In this excerpt from Plato’s Menexenus, Socrates is mainly critiquing the misuse of the power of rhetoric. He complains that orators/rhetors simple pull from their pre-fabricated or generic storehouse of ideas/approaches, praise too well [...]

creating a world of complexities and continuums

Spring break week, so I’m off work (though no pay :-() and I get some juicy reading and writing time. I should be doing some laundry or picking up this cluttered office, but it’s almost noon and I’m still sitting, reading blogs and articles and “playing with” my own blog.
I just came across Michael Faris [...]

erring on the side of inclusivity (”Church takes stand against straight marriage”)

Pamela Miller, from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, writes about a couple of churches that have decided to treat their hetero- and homo- sexual couples equally — by no longer offering civil weddings. Great title: Church takes stand against straight marriage. It appears to have been published April 16, 2006, but the article’s no longer on [...]