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I finished watching Season 4 of Dexter on DVD, and it has had a lingering effect on me. That show is fiendish because it makes me feel sympathy for a serial killer. Granted, he kills others like him, but this is like a piranha that feeds on its own kind but masquerades as a vegetarian.

Great art is about finding and creating beauty. Great music is about expressing the emotions. Great drama and literature is different. It disturbs us. It stays with us even after the ending. There are no easy answers. This is the element that I learned about in college called "moral education." This is what stories give us. They are situations and conflicts, and we must strive to resolve them. They help us to understand how to live our lives and to determine what we must value.

I don't know if Dexter is great drama, but it makes me think and reflect. Ulimately, can we redeem the actions of a killer? Or is murder always abhorrent? And isn't the death penalty a just punishment?

Another thing that has been on my mind has to do with formal schooling and informal schooling as well as training vs. education. My own knowledge is a mixture of the two. In many ways, I am an autodidact. I can say I have learned more outside of school than in it. My learning has never ceased. Unlike other people my age, I can be put right back into a classroom and not miss a beat. Sadly, most people stop learning when they graduate from high school or college. This is a shame. But it is their shame not mine.

I've also been thinking about bowling lately. I'm not interested in bowling as something I want to do though I have always had fun when I have bowled. I fractured my right wrist over a decade ago, and my ability to bowl is now hampered as a result. I'd have to wear a brace or switch to my left hand. But the appeal of bowling has to do with its essentially blue collar nature. Traditionally, golf has been the game of the wealthy and the white collar set while bowling has been the game of the blue collar man. Bowling has fallen on hard times and gets lampooned in movies like Kingpin and The Big Lebowski. Bowling is the Pabst Blue Ribbon of sports. This is why I predict that it will make a comeback in these rough economic times. Bowling is relatively cheap and family friendly. All you need is a ball and some shoes. Plus, you can eat crap food and drink beer at the bowling alley.

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