Saturday, May 19, 2007
An essential podcast: The education of boys
I sync my iPod on Saturday mornings and listen to accumulated podcasts while running errands and putting away the groceries. This afternoon I listened to the most recent edition of the Glenn and Helen Show, an interview of Conn Iggulden, the author of The Dangerous Book For Boys
6 Comments:
By 
Assistant Village Idiot, at
Sat May 19, 07:54:00 PM:
I am a father of four boys, now mostly grown, and about to become a grandfather. I started as a William & Mary sensitive male at the time of my marriage, but was fortunate enough to work at a school for emotionally disturbed boys and have both male and female foster children. This hands-on experience taught me that boys need the old virtues, which should never have been abandoned on such naive grounds.
I had thought my long twilight struggle against the androgynization of children was going to be rearguard action, with hope only of restoration in some future era. It is wonderful to see the pendulum swinging back.
It is fair to say that men brought much of the anti-masculine sentiment onto ourselves with our caricatures of manliness. Perhaps it was a necessary lesson.
By Christopher Chambers, at
Sat May 19, 08:56:00 PM:
Before you go proclaiming some sort of anti-metrosexual Al Gore whatever counter revolution, I should tell you my literary agent knows the author's US representation, and the inside joke is that (1) much of this book is written tongue-in-cheek, (2) while the dude is passionate about the some of the general themes, he overstates a lot of this in order to get publicity and tap folks like you to increase book sales. In short, you are being marketing to by the NY liberal, pro-wussy types. But such is the world we've made...
By 
, at
Sun May 20, 12:04:00 AM:
Or alternatively, the NY Book Publishing elite is so feminized that they can't push this thing without backtalking it and poor mouthing it.
Not surprising given that women and gays dominate Book Publishing. Which is why most boys don't read anymore.
I've heard the podcast, guy seems to believe his stuff, has appalling examples.
Most of modern society IS feminized. Probably far too much so. Unable and unwilling to embrace a positive masculinity. Look at for one simple example TV commercials. Guys are always doofuses and the women always wise and exasperated.
By Purple Avenger, at
Sun May 20, 10:19:00 PM:
In short, you are being marketing to by the NY liberal, pro-wussy types.
Pussy liberals still need some alpha males to protect them, pull them out of burning buildings, tow their busted cars, and fix their clogged toilets.
By , at
Mon May 21, 12:56:00 AM:
How do liberals wany boy educated? THEY WANT THEM TO BE GRANOLA MUNCHING TREE HUGGERS
By Charlottesvillain, at
Mon May 21, 09:53:00 AM:
Here's how I spent the weekend with my two boys, Thing 1 and Thing 2, ages 6 and 4.
We got up early on Saturday for Thing 1's t-ball game, from 8 to 9. Then we headed down to the country, just the three of us.
Immediately upon arrival, Thing 1 grabbed a shovel and began digging for bait. Having gathered several worms and cut worms, he grabbed his fishing gear and we all headed for the pond. While he fished, Thing 2 stirred up clouds of black tadpoles near the waters edge. Thing 1 baited his hook and caught two bream, which he put on a stringer and insisted I prepare for his breakfast Sunday. On the way up the hill to the house, we discovered and inspected the identifiable remains of a (feral?) cat that had apparently been devoured by a fox.
After we cleaned the fish, the boys and I headed for the woods, where they spent two hours in a creek moving rocks around.
Sunday morning there was more fishing, and then it was back in the woods, this time to the rocky ridge that runs through the area. We scrambled for 45 minutes, keeping a watch out for copperheads. After hiking back to the house, the boys went to their favorite climbing structure, and enormous fallen maple tree at the edge of the yard. While preparing lunch I heard a commotion in the bushes next to our front porch. Upon investigation, I discovered a black snake had invaded a robin's nest. I got a broom handle and extricated the snake, while calling the boys at the same time. The snake had its jaws firmly over the head of a baby robin, which was at this point beyond rescue. So lay the snake down in the yard and the three of us sat down and watched as it slowly worked the robin down its gullet. We discussed the relationship of snakes and birds, and people and bream, and watched the black snake go on its merry way when the meal was finished. Then we had our own lunch, and drove back to town to tell Mommy all about our adventures.
