The attendance at the last day of the conference was sparse, so the president of NESA cancelled the closing session. We heard an excellent keynote speaker, Tim Burns, speaking on current brain research and how that should inform our teaching. I then attended two rather mediocre workshops - Goal Setting in Writer's Workshop & Helping Students Read Non-Fiction Texts. I met Patty and Chris for lunch at a terrific outdoor cafe before going to an unexpectedly wonderful spa experience at the Intercontinental that I had booked the day before. After a good pedicure, I was offered time on the heated tile reclining chairs in the "relaxation room' before taking time in the sauna, then steam room and finally a rainforest shower - HEAVEN! I floated back to the hotel to meet up with Jeff and Cole who had finally toured the Ancient Agora. We met Letty, the Camponeschi's and Meg for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, taking a cab back in an unexpected rainshower.
As part of my effort to learn about Portugal, both the country and the language, I'm subscribing to the centrist newspaper, O Publico . There are plenty of newspapers: conservative tabloids, and socialist and communist-sponsored daily papers; I find O Publico to be most sober, with consistently interesting columnists and opinion pieces, in addition to some local (Porto) news, with just enough sporting news to keep me chatting with the taxi driver. Today's opinion piece sums up, I think, European pundits' view of the U.S. government. As the title puts it: so much damage in so little time. I shudder at the rank incompetence and corrupt behavior, demonstrating a cynical attitude toward public service, showing indeed that the cruelty is the point. What scandal, what damage will be the tipping point to collapse this government? And what will it take to recover from the damage? Who will be able to trust the US government again, ever? Only ni...
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