Ashok Karra

education

"With great power comes great responsibility."

I forget there are incentives for ignorance.

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "to go or stay"

Kyla Houbolt wrote "to go or stay" for a recent Small Poem Sunday, and I've found myself pondering her little lyric quite a bit.

education

Valentine's Day, 2024

It would be so cool to give out Valentine's cards with Optimus Prime saying stuff like "I will transform your heart."

poetry

Kobayashi Issa, "Writing shit about new snow" (translation Robert Hass)

"Writing shit about new snow / for the rich / is not art" is a blunt instrument, clear about its stand and too short to be a rant.

american politics

On the Texas Constitution

I'd like to introduce you to this short video about the Texas Constitution.

poetry

Marie Ponsot, "Bliss and Grief"

"No one / is here / right now." That's it. That's "Bliss and Grief," a short poem by Marie Ponsot.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Bait Goat"

...I can't help but feel the pull of the words "Bait Goat."

american politics

On Class in America, 1/27/2024

[I]f you change your speech–maybe use appropriate grammar, make polite and charming small talk–you can advance in society?

philosophy

Philosophy and Advertising

If we do separate philosophy from religion cleanly, then is philosophy relegated to being a cult?

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Salvage"

I am not in the mood for Kay Ryan's "Salvage."

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "A nearness to Tremendousness" (963)

What shattering, colossal lines: "A nearness to Tremendousness – / An Agony procures."

poetry

Joy Harjo, "Granddaughters"

Harjo means in her lyric to build a grandmother/granddaughter whose experiences are inextricable from myth.

education

On Moral Idealism

I do not tell people what to think, but some lines of thought are better than others.

poetry

Kathyrn Cowles, "Keeping Track"

There are times you're paying so much attention to detail you miss the obvious.

poetry

Kate Colby, "How far I've come"

These lines riddle with a Janus-like structure.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "There's a certain Slant of light" (258)

I want to begin 2024 by talking about Dickinson's "There's a certain Slant of light."

america

Goodbye to 2023

2023 closes with endless war, ongoing genocide, COVID resurgent, and the prospect that liberal democracy in the U.S. will be gone by 2024's end.

poetry

Kevin Young, "Colostrum"

I'll start with Young's electric first sentence, "We are not born / with tears."

poetry

Li-Young Lee, "One Heart"

Li-Young Lee's "One Heart" commands us to "[l]ook at the birds."

education

On Taking Notes

I don't want to own up to how little organization I have. I don't want to think about all the good stuff I've lost.

philosophy

Heidegger: "Philosophizing... is extra-ordinary questioning about the extra-ordinary."

Heidegger's talk of philosophy's engagement with the "extra-ordinary" is not mere provocation.

poetry

Jane Kenyon, "Otherwise"

In "Otherwise," Jane Kenyon deals with the unimaginable with every step.

poetry

Adam Zagajewski, "Moths"

The poem excels at creating unease in a situation which typically denies it even exists.

politics

Federalist 51 as of December 15, 2023

I'm thinking aloud how to introduce my students to Federalist 51 and the famous idea that we can run a government if ambition can counter ambition.

philosophy

Heidegger: "whoever engages in philosophy must know a few things"

Heidegger links philosophy and history: "philosophy either projects far beyond its own time or else binds its time back to this time's earlier and inceptive past."