Michael Pershan
@mpershan.bsky.social
math teacher, writer
substack: pershmail.substack.com
website with links to publications etc: michaelpershan.com
substack: pershmail.substack.com
website with links to publications etc: michaelpershan.com
This books connects some dots for me, on the rise of a lawless America, on special forces over conventional army(/police) forces, helps me see the line from the war on terror to our current political moment.
January 21, 2026 at 11:34 PM
This books connects some dots for me, on the rise of a lawless America, on special forces over conventional army(/police) forces, helps me see the line from the war on terror to our current political moment.
Getting into pataphysics.
January 20, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Getting into pataphysics.
Didn't make the Robert Coover/Percival Everett connection but that feels very right. (Also I need an interesting hobby.)
January 19, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Didn't make the Robert Coover/Percival Everett connection but that feels very right. (Also I need an interesting hobby.)
"Window Boy" by Thomas Ha. Love the moral layers in this. clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_08_23/
January 17, 2026 at 10:51 PM
"Window Boy" by Thomas Ha. Love the moral layers in this. clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_08_23/
Ah the classic "of course correllation isn't causation.................but"
January 15, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Ah the classic "of course correllation isn't causation.................but"
From calculus today…a sort of lazy lesson hack is to add structure, completed steps, and questions to a conventional worksheet, both to help kids step up to the work and also to draw attention to subtleties. Went well even though I was in a rush so had to do it all by hand really fast.
January 13, 2026 at 3:32 AM
From calculus today…a sort of lazy lesson hack is to add structure, completed steps, and questions to a conventional worksheet, both to help kids step up to the work and also to draw attention to subtleties. Went well even though I was in a rush so had to do it all by hand really fast.
Pershmail recently hit 3,000 subscribers, guaranteeing that I will try to chase some of you away with weird shit in 2026.
January 11, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Pershmail recently hit 3,000 subscribers, guaranteeing that I will try to chase some of you away with weird shit in 2026.
Donne would have loved Torus tic tac toe. chalkdustmagazine.com/features/top...
January 11, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Donne would have loved Torus tic tac toe. chalkdustmagazine.com/features/top...
You can't stop this
January 11, 2026 at 3:19 PM
You can't stop this
Early highlight in the January 8, 1927 issue of Liberty Magazine.
January 11, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Early highlight in the January 8, 1927 issue of Liberty Magazine.
the father with his dreamy gaze
and his left hand idly buried
in the fur of his dog
ordinaryplots.substack.com/p/jim-moores...
and his left hand idly buried
in the fur of his dog
ordinaryplots.substack.com/p/jim-moores...
January 11, 2026 at 1:03 PM
the father with his dreamy gaze
and his left hand idly buried
in the fur of his dog
ordinaryplots.substack.com/p/jim-moores...
and his left hand idly buried
in the fur of his dog
ordinaryplots.substack.com/p/jim-moores...
My reading this shabbos. Hey, Jon Klassen is amazing.
January 10, 2026 at 11:30 PM
My reading this shabbos. Hey, Jon Klassen is amazing.
America needs more nurses, electricians, welders…but this isn’t reflected in the labor market because these jobs pay less…which is why many people prefer to go to college…so the plan is to…allow more people to enter these professions without having to go to college which will…depress wages further?
January 9, 2026 at 4:22 PM
America needs more nurses, electricians, welders…but this isn’t reflected in the labor market because these jobs pay less…which is why many people prefer to go to college…so the plan is to…allow more people to enter these professions without having to go to college which will…depress wages further?
Kids who finished the assignment early in 8th grade today got a set of these classic imbalance puzzles from Paul Salomon. The goal is to rank the shapes in order of weight. lostinrecursion.wordpress.com/resources/im...
January 8, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Kids who finished the assignment early in 8th grade today got a set of these classic imbalance puzzles from Paul Salomon. The goal is to rank the shapes in order of weight. lostinrecursion.wordpress.com/resources/im...
Had some good reading on my commute, "Daisy's Valentine" by Mary Gaitskill. It's collected in this awesome craft book by Madison Smart Bell that offers his own notes and line-by-line analysis.
January 8, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Had some good reading on my commute, "Daisy's Valentine" by Mary Gaitskill. It's collected in this awesome craft book by Madison Smart Bell that offers his own notes and line-by-line analysis.
This was cute, by the way, if unsatisfying. (His elegy for his son "Gabriel" meanwhile absolutely destroyed me.)
January 8, 2026 at 12:19 AM
This was cute, by the way, if unsatisfying. (His elegy for his son "Gabriel" meanwhile absolutely destroyed me.)
There's a facebook group where people post photos like this of Skokie, the place I grew up, and with my adulthood spent in cramped urban conditions -- I'm so nostalgic for this low density crap.
January 8, 2026 at 12:11 AM
There's a facebook group where people post photos like this of Skokie, the place I grew up, and with my adulthood spent in cramped urban conditions -- I'm so nostalgic for this low density crap.
We have a textbook that makes little study sheets for kids. I have the whole class study and then I give out a little quiz or assignment that directly uses the facts.
There's a simplicity here. If you're going to ask kids to memorize things, give them time to memorize them. Then check.
There's a simplicity here. If you're going to ask kids to memorize things, give them time to memorize them. Then check.
January 5, 2026 at 7:29 PM
We have a textbook that makes little study sheets for kids. I have the whole class study and then I give out a little quiz or assignment that directly uses the facts.
There's a simplicity here. If you're going to ask kids to memorize things, give them time to memorize them. Then check.
There's a simplicity here. If you're going to ask kids to memorize things, give them time to memorize them. Then check.
Did some poking around, apparently everything in the poem is taken directly from the Talmud. Boy oh boy do I not want to plan my 3rd grade lesson.
January 5, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Did some poking around, apparently everything in the poem is taken directly from the Talmud. Boy oh boy do I not want to plan my 3rd grade lesson.
You seen this book, by Alan Jacobs? It's been a while but I liked it when I read it.
January 2, 2026 at 2:41 PM
You seen this book, by Alan Jacobs? It's been a while but I liked it when I read it.