Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Cut Pine Moon



cutting a tree

seeing the sawn trunk it grew from

tonight's moon
Matuo Basho

on the intended ambiguity of poetic imagery
from "The Heart of the Haiku" by Jane Hirshfield read by John Freed:

Sunday, December 11, 2011

A Happy Christmas Present:The best access to free cultural & educational media on the web






“Open Culture” is truly what it self-advertises – “The best free access to cultural & educational media on the web.”

It is the richest and easiest to navigate treasure trove that I have come across for open access to complete major university courses, to streaming classic films, to textbooks, ebooks and audio books as well as language and science lessons that are free for use by instructors or learners or the merely indulgers of art, science and global cultures.

If Tolstoy could learn to ride a bicycle at age 67 without the endless resources of the internet, just think of your unlimited possibilities with them. 









Dr. Freed's Caution: Once you start examining the virtual gems discoverable in “Open Culture,” you might never return to the real world.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Finding Equality Through Logic










Yvette Doss

Pasadena, CA




What follows is a link to my featured speaker of the week, Yvette Doss, for my LBSU 402 class at Brandman University -- "The Ways and Rhetoric of Knowing" from NPR's "This I Believe" series.



This is the prologue for the class.


Listen to Yvette's essay "Finding Equality Through Logic" by clicking on the following URL: http://thisibelieve.org/essay/12393/ .


Friday, September 30, 2011

At Curriki - A Survivor's Guide to College Writing


Free Instructional Materials for Teachers and Texts for Students



Aligned with Meeting State Educational Standards






Here is a New York Times article that will introduce you to "Curriki" -- a great, free curriculum materials resource that can be aligned with individual state standards-- for teachers.

What follows is the URL to the posting of my expository writer's handbook on the "Curriki" website for your edification and re-distribution -- "A Surviver's Guide to College Writing."

You're on your own to explore the rest of "Curriki's" instructional riches.







A Survivor's Guide to College Writing



by Dr. John Freed


click on the following link for this free writing guide:












Friday, September 23, 2011

What Dr. Freed did for his sanity this Summer





click on the image to enlarge



"Tend your own garden, Candide."





Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Happy Hundredth Birthday, Mr. Tennessee Williams








My dear wife, Stacy, gave me the best gift this past week -- a ticket to a truly riveting performance of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Actors Theatre in San Francisco.


Rachel Klyce as Blanche and Jennifer Welch as her sister Stella did the maestro proud.


The following link is to all of the Bay area's current (Spring - Summer 2011) theatrical productions with bargain ticket pricing to boot.