Welcome to Curioser and Curioser! A blog about many things but mostly Wonder.

It is also the homepage of Alfredo Mac Laughlin, associate professor of Philosophy at St. Ambrose University in the Quad Cities, editor of the Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy, and of the Philosophy Clips website. Die-hard fan of Aristotle, Aquinas and Lonergan (extra points if you heard of him); of science fiction, fantasy, adventure stories and real science; of Die Hard, Indiana Jones, and The Empire Strikes Back; of Homer, Dickens, and Huck Finn; of Tolkien, Lewis, Chesterton and Milne; of teaching, writing, drawing, helping each other, and everything that Sounds Interesting. Recently adopted by Chicago, sixteen-inch softball, running, and the English language.

A quick tour:

The Drawing Megachallenge is my newest project. Based on a list that I made to teach myself to draw (inspired itself by a variety of “30-day drawing challenges”), I decided to share it with other prospective amateur artists, together with whatever lessons I learn along the way.

Wonder will direct you to my (very slowly progressing) series on, well, wonder – what it is, and why it’s so important to philosophy and to life in general. It is a very neglected area of philosophy, and a very important part of life. You will find long-form articles, and shorter additions directing you to wonderful things I’ve found all over the Web.

Teaching will direct you to my blog/resource center for philosophy teachers and teachers in general. The activities described there are the ones I’ve found really helpful in class. They are free to use and modify. I hope you’ll find them helpful too! If you want to do some philosophizing on your own, with the help of little snippets from movies and TV, check out my site Philosophy Clips.

What to Watch with Your Kids (W2WK) is (was) a project left behind for the time being (I never quite drop one thing altogether). It listed movies & shows that both my kids and I have not just tolerated, but actually enjoyed watching together. My kids grew before I got to really finish this list, however. By now it may be even too late to begin a What to Watch with your Teens! Oh well…