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July 2015

July 20, 2015

Don’t Feed the Troll

I briefly and inadvertently got involved with a troll on Facebook the other day. Well,...

July 10, 2015

How to Educate a Story-Telling Animal

Man is in his actions and practices, as well as in his fictions, essentially a...

July 08, 2015

Someone with Skin On

The story is told of a little girl who was afraid of the dark. After...

June 2015

June 22, 2015

When Logic Fails

My novel of the week is Rebecca Goldstein’s The Mind-Body Problem. I first encountered Goldstein...

June 01, 2015

Justifying My Existence

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

May 2015

May 20, 2015

Cracked Spines

Although I suppose the whole point of being on Facebook is to be noticed, I...

May 13, 2015

Resembling the Picture

Another academic year is in the books, and as I will gladly be shifting into...

May 11, 2015

There It Is

I did something a couple of weeks ago that I have not done in four years—present...

May 06, 2015

How I Know That I Am Getting Older

I recall once when I was barely thirty hearing my father describe himself as in...

April 2015

April 24, 2015

Random Thoughts as the Semester Ends

Assignments: You would think after twenty-five years of teaching that I would have learned not...

April 22, 2015

Pleasure and Joy in the Work

As the end of the semester draws near and my upcoming sabbatical looms, I'm wondering...

April 20, 2015

The Vision Thing

In 1987, as Vice President George H. W. Bush prepared to step out of Ronald...

February 2015

February 27, 2015

Someone Would Know

Hey Justin! What if you had a ring that made you invisible when you put...

February 20, 2015

A Trip to Middle Earth

Everyone has an unforgettable teacher or two in his or her history; I aspire to...

February 11, 2015

Haunted by Humans

A bit over a year ago I read Herman Koch's novel The Dinner during Christmas break....

January 2015

January 26, 2015

Happy in Costa Rica

What is it about intentionally jerking people’s chains that is so satisfying? Every once in...

January 19, 2015

What I Would Love to Find

In Bird by Bird, the best book on writing that I have read, Anne Lamott...

December 2014

December 31, 2014

Moving On

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

December 12, 2014

Being Uncomfortable

Final exams begin next week, so I'm getting ready for the next round of reading...

November 2014

November 21, 2014

Going on Retreat

I begin with a confession. As recently as a week ago in a Facebook posting...

November 17, 2014

Hedda and Paul

“There is a famous anecdote about an out-of-town tryout of the original production of A...

November 12, 2014

Death Is Nothing Terrible

We are all going to die! That's just so awful. I didn't agree to this....

October 2014

October 24, 2014

I Am Not Your Friend

If it’s Friday, it’s time to think once again about interactions between various constituencies in...

September 2014

September 26, 2014

Faculty-Administration War Games, or How I Learned to Appreciate (or at least tolerate) Assessment

Everyone has heard the old adage, attributed to Oscar Wilde, that “When you ASSUME, you...

September 24, 2014

Having a Human Experience

Several years ago, as my mother-in-law was steadily descending into the hell of Alzheimer’s, an...

September 12, 2014

Stuffed Soul Mates

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

August 2014

August 27, 2014

In Praise of Snobbery

Last July, in the middle of an interminable stretch of high-90s heat (very unusual for...

August 18, 2014

How to Herd a Hedgehog (or a Fox)

Classes begin soon and I am coming slowly to the conclusion that my summer reading...

July 2014

July 23, 2014

Venn Mysticism

To what extent can clear thinking and logical analysis help untangle the complexities of trying...

July 18, 2014

Master of the Horse

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

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