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August 2016

August 17, 2016

The Universe in a Coffee Cup

If you are fond of a cup, say “I am fond of a cup!” For...

July 2016

July 13, 2016

My Life as Lady Macbeth

The new semester begins in less than two months and I'm pumped! I'm particularly anxious to be...

June 2016

June 03, 2016

A REAL Philosopher

Somebody put a drop of his blood under a magnifying-glass, and it was all semicolons...

May 2016

May 06, 2016

It’s That Time Of Year

On Monday, one of my Providence College faculty colleagues posted this on Facebook: Today was...

April 2016

April 16, 2016

Red and Blue Bubbles

As Jeanne and I do various things in the house on Saturdays, we often have...

February 2016

February 17, 2016

Stranger in a Strange Land

I am not Catholic. I have been firmly ensconced in Catholic higher education for close...

February 01, 2016

Hope in Exile

As is the case with any profession, the life of an academic includes some great...

January 2016

January 04, 2016

Reading and Writing

My twenty-plus years teaching at Providence College have afforded me an opportunity every semester for...

October 2015

October 28, 2015

Saint Keurig

She is the patron saint of efficiency, streamlined design, good taste and caffeine. Her name...

October 26, 2015

Book Geek Problems

Two months ago President Obama and Marilynne Robinson had a lengthy conversation, not about foreign...

October 14, 2015

Reading the Fine Print

As predictable as the change of seasons is the point in any given semester when...

September 2015

September 04, 2015

Life at Ten Miles per Hour

Following my bike ride the other day, as I frequently do I posted some pictures...

August 2015

August 17, 2015

Love That Will Not Let Me Go

One of the required performances for a professor returning from sabbatical is a public talk...

August 14, 2015

Sabbatical Report–The Early Returns

I have been on sabbatical officially for a bit over a month—in many ways, it...

June 2015

June 17, 2015

My Best Friends

I sat down in my usual aisle seat on one of my infrequent airplane flights...

June 01, 2015

Justifying My Existence

It is unsettling, even scary, to relinquish who we think we are, and scary to...

March 2015

March 23, 2015

Strange and Beautiful

Forgive me for name dropping, but I went to dinner with a New York Times...

January 2015

January 28, 2015

Magical Thinking

There must be something about the end of January and named snowstorms. This year it...

January 09, 2015

Computer Sabbath

If multitasking is the enemy of reverence, which I’m quite sure it is, then I’m...

December 2014

December 31, 2014

Moving On

“Get a picture of yourself ten years from now in your mind,” I said to...

November 2014

November 19, 2014

Celebrating Life

I recently submitted two grant proposals related to my sabbatical that will begin next July....

October 2014

October 22, 2014

The Crucifix Train

A bit over a year after moving into our beautiful new humanities building, there is...

September 2014

September 12, 2014

Stuffed Soul Mates

I have a good friend and colleague in the philosophy department whose twin daughters have...

September 10, 2014

But I Might Be Wrong

During the first weeks of the semester I often think about my first weeks as...

July 2014

July 27, 2014

Love Will Win

Picture the favorite vehicle that you have ever owned. Did it look like this? Or...

July 18, 2014

Master of the Horse

Unlike many academics, I greatly enjoy commencement exercises. After experiencing three of my own (BA,...

June 2014

June 30, 2014

The Powers of Words

The building looked like the love child of a logic problem and a crossword puzzle....

June 16, 2014

Conversion

Conversion is an odd phenomenon. I've often observed that those who convert, who ''tum around"...

June 11, 2014

Learning How to Read

There is a mystery in reading, a mystery which, if we contemplate it, may well...

May 2014

May 31, 2014

Passing the Baton

A disturbingly common mishap in recent Summer Olympic games has been the failure of U.S....

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