Last updated 1 March 2010
Hal Lyon has been a prolific writer. This site is set up to share some of his selected writings among friends and close colleagues. It is a work in progress starting with only a few selected works. I (Vince Giuliano, the Webmaster) will be adding more Hal's past and current writings as he and I get around to them. Please feel free to contact Hal if you have any reactions or suggestions to share. You probably know his e-mail is halclyon@yahoo.com
WILD INSTINCT VERSUS RATIONAL THINKING
Hal is a supurb outdoors writer, hunting and fishing being his specialties. This is a short piece about how hunting a buck evoked wild instinctive reactions in Hal.
“We’re Not Alone….” – a Tale of Coyotes and Gall Bladder from a Bear
Another suburb story about animal communications in the wild and fulfillment of an ancient Vietnamese tradition related to the curtive powers of bear gall bladers. Here is the story complete with a recipe for Roast Bear Paws.
The boundary between hunting and spirituality is sometimes a curious one. This is a short story about how hunting a turkey led to a shared spiritual experience.
An Adventure Hunting in the Beautiful Hohe Tatra Mountains of North Eastern Slovakia
Hunting with Vojtech and Igor is the theme. The story is an intricate weaving of red deer, boar, trudging through snow on mountain tops, ancient picturesque Slovakian villages, wolf tracks, brown trout, schnapps, and poor but wonderful people who live rich lives.
Fly Fishing on Quebec’s Gaspe’ Peninsula
In the crystal clear 30-foot deep basin pool called “Arthur Rock” of the Petite Cascapedia River I could clearly see fifteen or twenty 15 to 30 pound majestic monsters fining in the current less than 20 feet away, causing me -- almost – to fear that one would rise up and engulf my fly! About this wonderous place that is best in the world for salmon fishing, not far from home in New England.
Angling in the Smile of the Great Spirit (Powerpoint Presentation)
This particular presentation was made to the Eastern Fishing & Outdoor Exposition - February 8, 2008. Touches on Hal's personal history of fishing, angling as humanism, about Lake Winnipesaukee, about lake bass, landlocked salmon and trout, and the transformation from being a fisherman to an angler. The presentation is here. Note: to get this to show properly on your computer you may have to "allow blocked content."
This is a collection of adventure stories Hal told his two sons Gregg and Eric over a period of years when they were aged 9-12. It is about the adventures of two boys called Buba and Jude and is written partially based on Eric's and Gregg's recollections. Included here are introductions for both parents and children and the first four chapters. This busy parent’s bedtime story book is a work-in-progress.
Shoehorning is when you are already doing something important and slot in doing something else on the way - and then slot in doing something else yet, etc. It is a way of behaving that may sometimes be efficient but other times may be maddening. It can cause you to lose track of what you were trying to do in the first place. The two authors of this paper, Vince Giuliano and Hal Lyon, are habitual shoehorners and shoehorned in writing it while pursuing much more important projects.
This essay was a chapter in a book manuscript begun over 20 yrs ago ( and now completed) with Carl Rogers and Reinhard Tausch, entitled, ON BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER. However this chapter turned out to be a "red herring" which drew too much fire causing the book to be rejected largely because editors did not "get" this chapter or found it too controversial. Hal has since substituted an important chapter on Mentoring in the book and provides the material from the chapter here as an independent essay.
The Context of Love Transformation at age 73
Short homily to love and the transformation it brings about given to the congregation at St. Johns on the Lake Church August 30 on Bear Island, 2008.
This essay will be Chapter 14 in a book manuscript begun over 20 yrs ago (and now completed) with Carl Rogers and Reinhard Tausch, entitled, ON BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER. Studies of exceptionally successful people reveal that those who had mentors gained a higher degree of success than those without mentors in all measures of success. This essay covers traits of a succssful mentor, a model for mentoring interactions, and the functions of the mentor. An experiment in mentoring at the Dartmouth Medical School is described. The document can be found here.
This is the text of a talk given in Munich Germany to the Alumni Academy of the Heidelberg Life Science Academy for Gifted Students at the Castle Schwaneck, March 26, 2008. It is about risking being in the here-and-now, being open to miracles, thinking and being for ourselves, person-centered education and management, and breaking through in awareness and consciousness.
This item was originally published in the Christian Science Monitor and is republished with permission. About what it takes to be a real, powerful and effective teacher. "I’m convinced that if we can deal with the whole person with feelings and intellect in the classroom, if teachers can begin to deal with children as feeling human beings instead of just intellects to be developed, then there’s hope for education in this country." -- "Some person -- a teacher, a coach, a respected adult -- had stepped out of his or her role and rank, taken off his or her mask and status, and built an intimate one-to-one human relationship with these individuals -- encouraging them to believe in themselves, to take risks and try things they wouldn’t have tried without such encouragement."
The Doctor as Teacher – The Teacher as Doctor (Powerpoint Presentation)
Presentation created for Ludwig Maximilians University and TU Munich, Germany. For the Colloquium des Instituts und der Poliklinik für Arbeits-, Sozial,-und Umweltmedizin, January 17, 2008 Research results on effective teachning, importance of effective teaching, avoiding being a charlatan or pedantic bore, role of lectures, characteristics of being an effective teacher, Flanders Interaction analysis, and some life lessons Hal has learned. The presentation is here. Note: to get this to show properly on your computer you may have to "allow blocked content."
PlanAlyzer, an Interactive Computer-assisted Program to Teach Clinical Problem Solving --
Hal was lead author of this journal article published in 1992 which made a profound impact on computer-based instruction (CBI) in medical education. The article showed that CBI is more efficient in teaching clinical reasoning and diagnosis in medical schools than the same content delivered through traditional lectures. That article is in pdf format.
A study to determine if a modified Flanders Interaction Analysis diagnosis and critique with volunteer faculty members in lectures at two German medical universities lead to improvements in teaching as judged by student and expert evaluations. By Harold C. Lyon, Jr, (LMU and TU), Thomas Brendel (LMU), Alexandra Hesse (TU), Matthias Holzer (LMU), Max Mornau (TU) and Martin R. Fischer (LMU). Submitted August 2008.
Conversation with Vince on Authenticity, Creation and Love
This document is a two-stage conversation that started with a posting of mine on Vince's blog. Vince interspersed his comments with mine and the resulting dialog is posted here. It is a discussion that wrestles with questions of authenticity and pretending as they relate to creation as described in Vince's essay On Being and Creation. It is included here for the insights it contains relating love to creation and to the roles of pretending and pretending that you are not pretending.
Hal's Best Book of the Year Award
Dr. Harold Lyon’s book, Angling in the Smile of the Great Spirit was named the “Best Book of 2007” by the New England Outdoor Writers Association. Dr. Lyon is a former director of education for gifted children, project officer for “Sesame Street”, assistant to the president of a university, faculties of Georgetown University, Antioch, Dartmouth Medical School, Notre Dame College, and Universities of Massachusetts and Munich, where he is a guest professor of medical education for several months a year. His. He received the Gold Medal in the 1990 International Film & TV Festival of New York. He’s a West Point graduate and former Ranger Paratrooper Army Officer, has served in high positions in government and in the academic world. He is the author of six books and numerous articles. He is a popular speaker about educational and outdoor topics. He serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Outdoor Writers Association. He lives on an island in New Hampshire.