A Slow Circle

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin A really beautiful book. The details are so rich here that the story feels more grounded in Goha's life in a way that the first three books never did. I love the conversation between Goha and Moss about women's magic. Le Guin wrote that she wanted this story to be about the people who inhabited the worlds of traditional fantasy, the ones who things happened to rather than those causing all the action. I think it succeeds and feels very unique as a result. Tales of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin The further I go in these books the more I appreciate them. These short stories are great because you get to see such a variety of characters and their lives, not beholden to any single overarching narrative. Or at least that narrative can only be glimpsed through a dozen broken mirrors. I particularly enjoy the love stories. The Other Wind  by Ursula K. Leguin The last of the Earthsea books. There are more viewpoint characters. Like so many of her other book...

Why do we teach history? This question may seem obvious but in light of recent scaling back of history and humanities programs  it bears consideration. Others have answered this question more deeply but I will provide a few reasons of my own before discussing how roleplaying fits in.  History helps us understand where we came from and why things are the way are now. These origin stories help give context to our understanding of modern life. The origin of history is basically just memory and stories. History teaches cause and effect , or at least provides data on correlations. We can look at how all sort of historical events have panned out over time and use that information to help inform our decisions about the future. History as an academic subject stems from this 'leadership training' approach.  History trains us to decide what is true and what is important . Every historian, student or even reader of history must make decisions about what to include or exclude an...