Comments on: Q&A: Bill Martin, Bill Martin, What Do You See?

By: Jana from Havana

Jana from Havana — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:06:28 +0000

This is so hilarious, circumstance and interview. I am the only person in my immediate family who didn’t move to Texas (yes, they all moved to Texas from Kansas — go figure). Everytime I visit, I’m struck by how friendly people are but that’s because I’m white and they assume I’m a Republican (why else would I be visiting?). Here in Miami where I live now, back in 2006 the Miami-Dade County School Board banned “Vamos a Cuba,” a travel book geared toward kindergartners, because it failed to depict life in Cuba as abject misery. In fact they banned the whole 24-volume series without even looking at the other 23 volumes (which had nothing to do with Cuba), so eager they were to expunge the “evil” from their bookshelves. The good news is that the generation of US-born Cuban-Americans in Miami seems to be a bit more broad-minded than the geezers on the school board who voted for the ban, so this nonsense will hopefully not repeat itself.

By: Matt is raising a LUSH! | DADWAGON

Matt is raising a LUSH! | DADWAGON — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:56:49 +0000

[...] also have the good interviews: with Marxist professors, Filipino rappers, and today, with tech blogger/sexual abuse survivor Joel [...]

By: First the Canadians and now New York. « Accidents will happen.

First the Canadians and now New York. « Accidents will happen. — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:44:37 +0000

[...] worth going down the rabbit hole of dad-blog-reading to boot. I suggest, as an introduction, this interview with Marxist professor Bill Martin, my first taste of DadWagon (via Jessie). [And confidential to [...]

By: Bill Martin

Bill Martin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:28:37 +0000

good grief–only “hear” about, I meant to say.

bill m.

By: Bill Martin

Bill Martin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:27:11 +0000

Somehow this story keeps circulating. Apparently there is going to be a story in the New York Times magazine about right-wing Christian control of the public school curricullum in Texas. There is already a preview of the story in the online NYT, from maybe two days ago, and apparently this mentions the Brown Bear incident. (I tried to open the story but it jammed my computer.) I’ve started writing some notes for something I’m going to call “An accidental philosopher”–Matt’s question about “accidental” vs “real” celebrity got me thinking on this. Of course, it seems most people only here about anything to do with philosophy by accident as well. Socrates (and other Greeks of that time) used to say, “By the dog!” For me it will be, “By the Brown Bear!”

bill m.

By: A Week on the Wagon | DADWAGON

A Week on the Wagon | DADWAGON — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:29:54 +0000

[...] nanny state has brought toothbrushing training into public schools, and followed that post up with our first-ever Q&A: a lively conversation with Bill Martin, the Marxist professor who shares a name with (and [...]

By: Grenadine

Grenadine — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:09:19 +0000

This is such a great interview that it makes me glad there are people in Texas who are so unintelligent as to create the circumstances for it. (I do feel sort of bad for Texans in 3rd grade social studies classes, though.)

By: more brown bear, brown bear « Object-Oriented Philosophy

more brown bear, brown bear « Object-Oriented Philosophy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:51:08 +0000

[...] 4, 2010 Bill Martin, who was one of my professors at DePaul, responds to THE BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR COTNROVERSY in which he became accidentally [...]

By: stonerdad

stonerdad — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:10:48 +0000

man, the wee babe must be reading dadwagon, because when we got home today he pulled out Brown Bear and demanded I read it to him. again.

on this reading we realized for the first time (perhaps because so few are able to make it to the end) that the book is really a commentary on totalitarianism.

all the animals are happily giving each other the eye (who ever heard of a purple cat, anyway?) when this looming “teacher” figure gets spotted by the goldfish. The teacher has some kind of all-seeing gaze, effected through her minions, the “children” aka apparatchiks, that allows her to see all the animals, all the time in a sort of bestial panopticon.

but to what end? we’re left to wonder what her motivations could be, and how she achieved her dominance, and how she maintains it. but i guess those are the questions we want the kids asking.

except about dad.

By: Read Alert » Roundup 04/02/10

Read Alert » Roundup 04/02/10 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:07:55 +0000

[...] Bill Martin, author of popular picture book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? had his book banned by the Texas Board of Education. Why? Because he has the same name as an academic who wrote a book called Ethical Marxism. Here’s an interview with the Marxist Bill Martin. [...]