5 Quick Things #336 📻

linen, Jane Eyre, audio > video, & true education

Hey there,

Last Friday morning I met with my local friend over coffee. I told her why I was so tired — because I was up way too late the night before writing last week’s edition of 5 Quick Things; that my current full plate of starting a co-op and deep-diving in to all sorts of topics for the classes I teach hasn’t allowed me any time for leisurely online reading, and thus I had to scour through my TBR list of links WAY too late in the evening, only so I could share them here with you. (That there is the honest truth of how the sausage gets made sometimes.)

She said something so simple, so revolutionary, that it smacked me right across the face like a fly on a windshield. “Why don’t you just share what you’re learning right now? No need for everything you share to include links.”

Reader, my mind’s eye rewound in a flash to a reel back to, I don’t know, 2017 or whenever it was I started 5QT, when I suddenly remembered: that was my original intent with 5QT in the first place. I wanted a way to not spam you with links to everything I created that week, plus add in a few thoughts here and there, to total five quick things. And if my thoughts included a link to something someone else has written — well, great. But if not, that’s okay! It’s just …five quick things.

So this is me letting you know that from now on, as of this edition, I’m gonna try out returning to that original spirit of 5QT. A link or two to something of mine from this week, a few thoughts here and there, along with occasional links to anything else I may have enjoyed from others.

Here’s to smart friends reminding me of smart ideas I’d long forgotten! 🍻

Early Sunday Morning, by Edward Hopper (1930) #

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5 Quick Things ☕️

1. Earlier this week I wrote an essay for my paying subscribers, and yesterday evening I opened it up to everyone else. In it I’m sharing a version of something I wrote my students’ parents this year, reminding us all of the true definition and purpose of education, no matter where you “do” school.

2. The older I get, the more and more my wardrobe becomes full of linen. It’s such a great fabric: cool in warm weather, warm in cool weather (if it’s thick enough), quick-wicking of sweat and odors, easy to clean, and makes you look like you care without giving much effort. It’s pricier than synthetic fabrics, yes, but I’ve found my linen pieces to hold up so well that they’re usually worth the price. I’ve got linen shorts, shirts, dresses, and skirts, and they’re my go-to preferred items almost every time I dress. Linen: give it a whirl if you haven’t yet.

3. Earlier this year I had the privilege of podcasting again with Faith Moore and the episode released over the summer while I was on my screen sabbatical. Here it is! We chat about my posture and methods for teaching Jane Eyre to my high school students — it was great fun to nerd out on a topic I’m seldom asked about.

4. Speaking of, I find the trend of podcasts infiltrating YouTube interesting. I like watching videos for certain topics, but when it comes to listening to podcasts? I prefer to keep it in my ears. Give me a walk, a grocery run, a traffic jam, or dinner prep for a podcast to accompany me; I don’t have much interest in sitting to watch two people talk. I know this isn’t necessarily new and I know it makes me sound 97 years old, but still — I prefer good old-fashioned audio podcasts to their latest video form. 👵

5. And finally, earlier this week was our local chapter’s first meeting of this season for Well-Read Mom. The theme is ‘Year of the Father,’ and we read two glorious poems that left my eyes watered: here and here. It left me thinking the rest of this week how we so often don’t appreciate our own parents’ sacrifices until we ourselves are parents. …And it will the same for our own kids — and on and on it goes.

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Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📻

My new Study Music playlist

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Quotable 💬

“Humility does not mean to have a low view of your self. It means to have no view of yourself. If I say I'm doing well, I'm a proud, self-righteous, arrogant, self-satisfied, priggish Pharisee; if I say I'm doing lousy, I'm a miserable worm with a guilt complex and I need some psychiatry; and if i say I'm sort of fair to midland then I'm dull, wishy-washy, Charlie Brown. So what's the solution? Don't look at yourself. Take your temperature when you're sick, otherwise look at other people and God. They're much more interesting. The first step is to try to forget about yourself altogether. Your real self, your new self, will not come as long as you are looking for it.”

― Peter Kreeft

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Rhine River 2025 ⚓️

Next summer we’ll amble down the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Zurich, visiting monasteries, cathedrals, windmills, villages, and more — and there’s a spot for you and yours!

Strasbourg, by KaLor (2018) #

I’d love you to join — you truly won’t regret it! These pilgrimages, without question, are the highlight of my year. It’ll be the same for you.

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What was your favorite subject in high school? 🎒

Knowing the readership of The Commonplace, are ANY of these results surprising to me? Not a one. Maybe except for how high math ranks.

• English: 44%

• History: 16%

• Art (of all sorts): 13%

• Math: 10%

• Science: 8%

• Foreign Language: 7%

• Sports/P.E.: 2%

Find next week’s poll here.

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Quick Links 🔗

• 📐Create your own Rule of Life

• 🎧 Listen to A Drink With a Friend

• 📖 Read my books

• 🛶 Join me along the Rhine River

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Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

What’s your favorite time of day? Why?

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Have a great weekend,

- Tsh

p.s. - Land dolphins.