by Phil Houseal | May 29, 2024 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
5/29/2024–David Crosby said, “I’m making music, because music makes things better and it makes people happier. That’s good enough for me.” That may be good enough for one of the early Byrds, but it’s not good enough for the rest of us trying to make a living singing,...
by Phil Houseal | May 22, 2024 | All Articles, Philosophy
5/22/2024–Can you act your way to happiness? Or to any mood? Is all the world a stage, as Bill Shakespeare posited, and we are just playing make believe? I am beginning to believe this to be true, and have some unscientific basis for it. Let’s start with actors. How...
by Phil Houseal | May 8, 2024 | All Articles, Food, Philosophy
May 8, 2024–Being invited to a dinner party is like entering Carnegie Hall–you are expected to be the audience or the performer. For some of us, either is a burden. I’ve thought about this a lot. Why do most normal people enjoy dining at someone else’s home, while...
by Phil Houseal | May 1, 2024 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
May 1, 2024–I’m nearsighted and thankful for it. Not being farseeing has completely influenced my life, in sometimes unexpected ways. For those of you that can see a mole on a gnat’s nose on a barn door 100 yards away, here’s what being nearsighted is like: you can’t...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 24, 2024 | All Articles, Education, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
April 24, 2024–‘Tis the season for that unsettling rite of spring that comes to all multi-generational households: the music recital. To this day, I remember my first piano recital at age 8. It was in the Methodist church basement in my small hometown. I squirmed in...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 17, 2024 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
April 17, 2024–Did you know they changed Bloom’s Taxonomy? Anyone who studied education in the past 50 years is intimately familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy. K-12 teacher education students had this pyramid drilled into them. To summarize a college semester into one...
