Ashok Karra

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.

poetry

Charles Simic, "Fear"

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

"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.

poetry

Robert Frost, "Hyla Brook"

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

poetry

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

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

philosophy

Introducing Plato's "Hipparchus"

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

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.

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.

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.

poetry

Linda Norton, "Monk"

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

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?

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.

philosophy

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

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

philosophy

Plato, "Meno," 86b

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

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.

philosophy

"Antigone," or the Construction of the Divine

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

philosophy

Philosophy and Addiction

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

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.

poetry

W.H. Auden, "Domesday Song"

Reality itself can't explain reality.