As I mowed my lawn, I inevitably compared it against my neighbor’s weed-free, manicured, precise lawn. Mine grows weeds faster than my weed cutter can handle. My weeping cherry tree grows wide and short (standing at my chest). My yoshino sakura trees stand spindly with only a handful of blossoms. My lawn festoons with violets…
Category: Philosophy
The Joy of Painting – The Influence of Bob Ross on Me
I watched the first episode of a new Bob Ross inspired painting show called “Keeping the Bob Ross Dream Alive.” I grew up watching Bob Ross. The bushy-haired, soft-spoken painter passed away back in 1995, yet he remains relevant. I often see teens come into my library wearing Bob Ross “Happy Trees” t-shirts. In fact,…
The Curse of Knowledge: I Know, You Know, Anime Know.
The Curse of Knowledge makes it hard for people to communicate. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an anime blog post or an academic journal article. We know what we know, and we don’t know what the reader doesn’t know. Worse, we can’t really push our knowledge aside. In fact, this problem makes it hard…
Christians can Learn From Anime Too
Usually I avoid discussing my beliefs on JP. However, (the week I write this) I had an encounter with a Bible-bound lady and then read a thoughtful article on Beneath the Tangles about Christians blogging about Yaoi and Yuri. They sat in contrast to each other. The Bible-bound lady pontificated about how Halloween was wrong…
Seneca, Anime, and Time
In recent months, I’ve been thinking about time and reading Seneca and other Roman thinkers. We treat time as something of little value. If someone broke into our home and stole a television or anime collection, we’d feel violated and angry. Yet, we often allow advertisements, bad anime, and other people to steal our time….
Considering Bias
I’m a biased writer. There isn’t any other kind, but bias is something we often don’t think about. As part of information literacy, the ability to discover, judge, and use information, awareness of bias plays an important role. Without this awareness, you are blind. Let’s examine the role of bias in how we watch…