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Ashok Karra

Ashok Karra

356 posts published

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Emily Dickinson, "There is no Frigate like a Book"
poetry

Emily Dickinson, "There is no Frigate like a Book"

...how to respond to someone determined to tell you everything you're reading is worthless?

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Dec 2, 2024 • 4 min read
Jane Hirshfield, "A Chair in Snow"
poetry

Jane Hirshfield, "A Chair in Snow"

I thought I should share Jane Hirshfield's "A Chair in Snow" because it so beautifully illustrates the weight of the season.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 30, 2024 • 3 min read
Remarks for Sigma Kappa Delta's Friendsgiving
education

Remarks for Sigma Kappa Delta's Friendsgiving

...the question for us this holiday season is how to be genuinely grateful.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 25, 2024 • 1 min read
Emily Dickinson, "The power to be true to You" (464)
emily dickinson

Emily Dickinson, "The power to be true to You" (464)

Dickinson does not inch toward the cosmic.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 23, 2024 • 3 min read
On Attending the 2024 Northeastern Political Science Association Conference
american politics

On Attending the 2024 Northeastern Political Science Association Conference

You are owed an explanation about conferences.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 17, 2024 • 3 min read
Political Philosophy and the Question of Genre
philosophy

Political Philosophy and the Question of Genre

I feel I might be reinventing the wheel.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 12, 2024 • 4 min read
Post-Election Reading List
american politics

Post-Election Reading List

The readings below are not meant to be anti-Trump or anti-GOP. They are attempts to inform people's expectations.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Nov 9, 2024 • 4 min read
The Classroom and Election 2024
education

The Classroom and Election 2024

It isn't just that some want to steal classrooms from us.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 31, 2024 • 4 min read
Four Ideas About Leadership
education

Four Ideas About Leadership

I never thought I'd talk about leadership in the way business schools or youth pastors do.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 29, 2024 • 3 min read
A few short remarks to open "Monstrous Musings," Odessa College's Poetry and Storytelling Night
education

A few short remarks to open "Monstrous Musings," Odessa College's Poetry and Storytelling Night

I think what's hitting me most nowadays is neglect.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 22, 2024 • 1 min read
Five Short Meditations on Rae Armantrout's "Djinn"
poetry

Five Short Meditations on Rae Armantrout's "Djinn"

Armantrout's first stanza, about the terrain ghosts create, brings into relief the strange world-building of lying.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 22, 2024 • 5 min read
Jane Hirshfield, "I sat in the sun"
poetry

Jane Hirshfield, "I sat in the sun"

Jane Hirshfield opens the sacredness of the everyday in "I sat in the sun."

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 14, 2024 • 4 min read
Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 8: Sample Final Exam
philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 8: Sample Final Exam

Much has been said about the public's addiction to cable news or TikTok.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 6, 2024 • 5 min read
Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 7: Normative Ethics
philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 7: Normative Ethics

Education is your responsibility to your community.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Oct 3, 2024 • 7 min read
A few remarks on class in America, or on the importance of subtext
american politics

A few remarks on class in America, or on the importance of subtext

Part of the problem with explaining social class and wealth to you is that I'm not entirely sure how it all works.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 30, 2024 • 5 min read
Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 6: Plato's "Apology"
philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 6: Plato's "Apology"

The examined life is a radical proposition, and I can't tell you that everyone will be happier if they aim for it.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 28, 2024 • 8 min read
On Nietzsche's Bees
philosophy

On Nietzsche's Bees

Do you need to be conscious of history to know yourself?

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 26, 2024 • 4 min read
Lecture 5: Closing "Antigone," Opening Plato's "Apology of Socrates"
philosophy

Lecture 5: Closing "Antigone," Opening Plato's "Apology of Socrates"

We are unable to use the law to gain a larger vision of what is right.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 20, 2024 • 8 min read
I just donated to the Haitian Community Help and Support Center
american politics

I just donated to the Haitian Community Help and Support Center

Society does not actually depend on the loud guy at the council meeting saying he pays taxes, no one else does, therefore no one else should get anything but him.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 14, 2024 • 3 min read
Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 4: Writing the Midterm
philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 4: Writing the Midterm

...I can believe that "everything is water" from my own life.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 12, 2024 • 3 min read
Elisa Gabbert, "In Nature"
poetry

Elisa Gabbert, "In Nature"

Elisa Gabbert's "In Nature," for me, remarks upon a scholarly problem, if not a philosophical one.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 8, 2024 • 4 min read
Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 3: The Ode to Man and a Definition of Humanity
philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 3: The Ode to Man and a Definition of Humanity

"Antigone" serves as reflection on some incredibly uncomfortable truths.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Sep 3, 2024 • 8 min read
Kay Ryan, "Shoot the Moon"
poetry

Kay Ryan, "Shoot the Moon"

Kay Ryan's "Shoot the Moon" is a tough poem.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 31, 2024 • 2 min read
A. R. Ammons, "Uppermost"
poetry

A. R. Ammons, "Uppermost"

The sacred is earthly, and the earth itself the mystery.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 29, 2024 • 3 min read
Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 2: Introducing "Antigone"
philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy, Lecture 2: Introducing "Antigone"

It took me a long time to realize that "What is family?" is the question "Antigone" begins with and refuses to minimize.

  • Ashok Karra
Ashok Karra Aug 23, 2024 • 5 min read
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