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Ashok Karra

Ashok Karra

370 posts published

http://ashokkarra.com https://x.com/akarra https://www.facebook.com/akarra
Shame, Power, and the Pinto: What I've Learned So Far in Engineering Ethics
philosophy

Shame, Power, and the Pinto: What I've Learned So Far in Engineering Ethics

Our present moment indulges images of cars in distress.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 23, 2022 • 5 min read
Themes, Connections, and Getting the Most out of a Humanities Class
education

Themes, Connections, and Getting the Most out of a Humanities Class

I don't think I ever was a good student.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 17, 2022 • 4 min read
On the Opening of Nietzsche's "On the Pathos of Truth"
philosophy

On the Opening of Nietzsche's "On the Pathos of Truth"

"Art is more powerful than knowledge," Nietzsche declares, and part of me wants to scream

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 15, 2022 • 8 min read
from Marilyn Kallet's "You Can't"
poetry

from Marilyn Kallet's "You Can't"

I wouldn't say there's wisdom in everyday life, but seeds of wisdom.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 11, 2022 • 4 min read
The Lack of Possession and Belonging in John Singer Sargent's "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit"
painting

The Lack of Possession and Belonging in John Singer Sargent's "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit"

The trick to art is to pretend a friend made it, and you want to say something nice and thoughtful to them.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 30, 2022 • 6 min read
Kyla Houbolt, "hold on"
poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "hold on"

Kyla Houbolt has been writing amazing poetry on a regular basis, and I regret I cannot give all her work the attention it deserves.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 17, 2022 • 4 min read
Emily Dickinson, "Much Madness is divinest Sense"
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Much Madness is divinest Sense"

When I encounter the sentence "Much Madness is divinest Sense," I think back to middle school and high school.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 16, 2022 • 4 min read
A Short Tribute to Porochista Khakpour's "Just (Don't) Do It"
writing

A Short Tribute to Porochista Khakpour's "Just (Don't) Do It"

Now I have to write about myself again. It's not going great.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 7, 2022 • 4 min read
On Office Hours
education

On Office Hours

OK, this is wild. Students at Harvard don't go to office hours?

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 27, 2022 • 4 min read
Emily Dickinson, "The Sunset stopped on Cottages" (950)
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "The Sunset stopped on Cottages" (950)

I want Dickinson's confidence, though I can't help but think it hubris.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 24, 2022 • 5 min read
Kyla Houbolt, "morning"
poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "morning"

A few of my more fateful encounters have been with those obsessed with simplifying.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 16, 2022 • 4 min read
Matsuo Bashō, "Lady Butterfly"
poetry

Matsuo Bashō, "Lady Butterfly"

Bashō witnesses a butterfly with resplendent, patterned wings hovering over an orchid.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 11, 2022 • 4 min read
Emily Dickinson, "To fight aloud is very brave" (126)
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "To fight aloud is very brave" (126)

Dickinson says "To fight aloud is very brave," and "brave" catches me unguarded. I don't think I've ever been "brave."

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 5, 2022 • 4 min read
D. Nurkse, "Psalm to Be Read with Closed Eyes"
poetry

D. Nurkse, "Psalm to Be Read with Closed Eyes"

The apocalypse was easier before.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 31, 2022 • 3 min read
I bought the Baroness G.I. Joe figure from WalMart
gi joe

I bought the Baroness G.I. Joe figure from WalMart

I suspect I am experiencing a midlife crisis.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 29, 2022 • 4 min read
Adam Zagajewski, “Auto Mirror”
poetry

Adam Zagajewski, “Auto Mirror”

Those who drive wherever they like, whenever they like—I've been jealous of them for so long.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 28, 2022 • 3 min read
Emily Dickinson, "Our share of night to bear" (133)
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Our share of night to bear" (133)

...your literal self is on full display during a move.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 22, 2022 • 4 min read
Kyla Houbolt, "But What Do You Know?"
poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "But What Do You Know?"

Parts. That's what Houbolt begins with. "[M]aybe the problem is that God has been split up / into parts."

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 6, 2022 • 6 min read
Kay Ryan, "Pinhole"
poetry

Kay Ryan, "Pinhole"

"Hope is a discipline," Mariame Kaba says.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jul 1, 2022 • 4 min read
Andrea Cohen, "Night"
poetry

Andrea Cohen, "Night"

Andrea Cohen's "Night" sketches the mystery of night so well that I find myself lost in it.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 26, 2022 • 6 min read
Kobayashi Issa, "Mosquito at my ear"
poetry

Kobayashi Issa, "Mosquito at my ear"

Issa laments one of the more miserable summer experiences. A literal bloodsucker, not content with biting and stealing, makes its presence felt loudly.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 15, 2022 • 3 min read
Jane Hirshfield, "Sonoma Fire"
poetry

Jane Hirshfield, "Sonoma Fire"

The world is burning.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 9, 2022 • 4 min read
On Becoming Spectral: Daniel Clowes' "Ghost World"
comics

On Becoming Spectral: Daniel Clowes' "Ghost World"

Clowes' work is rightfully a classic, but I do have this much to add: I've rarely seen anything as sensitive to the moral lives of teenagers, taking their concerns and claims seriously.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 4, 2022 • 8 min read
Math & Poetry: A Conversation with Tom Snarsky
interview

Math & Poetry: A Conversation with Tom Snarsky

Tom Snarsky introduces himself laconically on his website: "a math teacher who writes poetry." But that can miss the hundred and one other ways he introduces himself.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 3, 2022 • 8 min read
Yehuda Amichai, "Forgetting Someone"
poetry

Yehuda Amichai, "Forgetting Someone"

Yehuda Amichai takes an everyday error—leaving a light on too long—and finds it apt for describing one of our hardest pains, that of having to forget someone.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Jun 2, 2022 • 4 min read
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