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Ashok Karra

Ashok Karra

357 posts published

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John Wieners, "Plus Mine" & Robert Frost, "Meeting and Passing"
poetry

John Wieners, "Plus Mine" & Robert Frost, "Meeting and Passing"

I wonder about the 11 year old kid brought to the White House to mow the lawn while Trump yelled at him.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Dec 18, 2021 • 5 min read
Charles Simic, "Fear"
poetry

Charles Simic, "Fear"

I always thought the one benefit of getting older would be becoming less panicky.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Dec 8, 2021 • 5 min read
"21," by Ben Niespodziany

"21," by Ben Niespodziany

...since I'm trying to be more professional, small failures hit harder. They're seeds of guilt which grow like magic beans.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Dec 1, 2021 • 4 min read
Robert Frost, "Hyla Brook"
poetry

Robert Frost, "Hyla Brook"

In order to do political philosophy, one has to actually know something practical.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 22, 2021 • 5 min read
from Hanif Abdurraqib's "All the TV Shows Are About Cops"
poetry

from Hanif Abdurraqib's "All the TV Shows Are About Cops"

...I live in the United States of Kyle Rittenhouse.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 20, 2021 • 3 min read
Introducing Plato's "Hipparchus"
philosophy

Introducing Plato's "Hipparchus"

Greed and shame brought me to Plato's "Hipparchus."

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 11, 2021 • 4 min read
Emily Dickinson, "Best Witchcraft is Geometry" (1158)
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Best Witchcraft is Geometry" (1158)

If geometry, the shapes which compose everyday life, is witchcraft, then a little more awareness of what helps is actually a minor miracle.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 10, 2021 • 3 min read
Boris Pasternak, "The Wind"
poetry

Boris Pasternak, "The Wind"

I'll try to speak to the past but there doesn't seem to be much of it. It won't speak back.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 5, 2021 • 4 min read
The Potential Importance of Advising for Honors Programs
education

The Potential Importance of Advising for Honors Programs

A good advisor listens and highlights possibilities. A student is encouraged to explore, and no field or topic is off the table.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 4, 2021 • 6 min read
Linda Norton, "Monk"
poetry

Linda Norton, "Monk"

What happens when you pick up a hobby you left behind as a kid, 22 years ago?

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 30, 2021 • 5 min read
Twenty years later, I have some idea what to do in a school club

Twenty years later, I have some idea what to do in a school club

...what was I supposed to do, say, at my high school's literary society?

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 23, 2021 • 5 min read
Reading in Part: On Aristotle's Way of Writing
philosophy

Reading in Part: On Aristotle's Way of Writing

...the big mistake I've made in reading is paying attention to Aristotle's actual words.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 18, 2021 • 6 min read
Meno as a "Mean" in Plato's "Meno"
philosophy

Meno as a "Mean" in Plato's "Meno"

Meno stands between Anytus' combination of rage and ignorance and Socrates' high-minded talk.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 9, 2021 • 8 min read
Plato, "Meno," 86b
philosophy

Plato, "Meno," 86b

Fortunately, the soul is immortal. Because it is always learning, it despises ignorance.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 4, 2021 • 5 min read
How to Write a Paragraph
education

How to Write a Paragraph

Someone telling you "write a paragraph where you name and describe a piece of evidence for your argument" is not helping.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 30, 2021 • 9 min read
"Antigone," or the Construction of the Divine
philosophy

"Antigone," or the Construction of the Divine

The sacred is born of a denial which demands others suffer for telling the truth.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 28, 2021 • 9 min read
The Value of Doing the Assignment
america

The Value of Doing the Assignment

If you're not doing the work, you need to start looking at what everyone else is getting, what you don't have because of your choices.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 23, 2021 • 8 min read
Emily Dickinson, "To fill a Gap" (546)
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "To fill a Gap" (546)

I believe it is possible to speak of loss as lasting without completely exonerating those who are greedy, panicked, or paranoid.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 22, 2021 • 5 min read
Maggie Rogers, "Light On"
music

Maggie Rogers, "Light On"

Maggie Rogers is like half my age, and I'm listening to "Light On" yet again, thinking how does she know all this.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 13, 2021 • 2 min read
Creon as Dictator and Our Desire for Order
philosophy

Creon as Dictator and Our Desire for Order

Creon's fantasy is centered on who he's scared to be, as he doesn't want to feel like someone who failed to act when he had the chance.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 13, 2021 • 9 min read
Robert Frost, "Bond and Free"
poetry

Robert Frost, "Bond and Free"

...it is a challenge to show not how philosophy engages particular issues in detail, but that it does so at all.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 9, 2021 • 6 min read
Antigone and Ismene Outside the Gates
philosophy

Antigone and Ismene Outside the Gates

Humans understood as rule-bearing, rule-bound creatures does not start with a notion of the "state" or "city," but with family itself.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 8, 2021 • 7 min read
Philosophy and Addiction
philosophy

Philosophy and Addiction

...if a book doesn't help you become more aware of your own life, something is wrong.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 2, 2021 • 3 min read
Kobayashi Issa, "the butterfly I passed"
poetry

Kobayashi Issa, "the butterfly I passed"

There are moments when we're more than we are, and they're not necessarily moments of triumphant heroism.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 31, 2021 • 3 min read
W.H. Auden, "Domesday Song"
poetry

W.H. Auden, "Domesday Song"

Reality itself can't explain reality.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 28, 2021 • 8 min read
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