Ashok Karra

poetry

"Eternity waits:" On Adam Zagajewski's "Gulls" (from "En Route")

"Eternity doesn't travel, / eternity waits." Zagajewski proposes a mystic truth. Before we can debate it, we have to believe it in some sense.

poetry

Adam Zagajewski, "Segesta" (from "En Route")

You only see when you see differently.

poetry

Not beyond pain: Emily Dickinson, "Presentiment — is that long Shadow — on the Lawn" (764)

There are days of disappointment.

poetry

Our Daily Bread: Paul Celan, "I hear the axe has flowered"

So many times I've been told pain is necessary for growth.

poetry

Comfort and the Soul: Vsevolod Nekrasov, "The Soul"

When I was in graduate school, two words were too much.

poetry

On the Meaning of Survival: Kay Ryan's "Turtle"

Really good art makes you really mad.

american politics

On Democratic Virtues: East Palestine, Ohio

...screaming bloody murder when you have urgent and serious reasons to question authority is a political virtue.

poetry

Of Cruelty and Calamity

We're all broken into eveningwear and skull.

philosophy

About Me

...I'm writing things like "I am an award-winning teacher" and "I help students identify and use their resources" three or four times a week.

poetry

On Declaring Oneself: Charles Simic's "Tattooed City"

You could say calling yourself "an incomprehensible / Bit of doodle" has nothing to do with the birth of 17th century rationalism.

poetry

Irving Feldman, "The Recognitions"

One of the best gifts that can be given is paying attention to someone.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Patience"

Kay Ryan does not bring us to the landscape, but the land itself.

poetry

Franz Wright, "Solution"

It's hard to identify, when living in an area which isn't working for you, what is and isn't knowledge.

poetry

The "Soul" in Emily Dickinson's "The Soul selects her own Society" (303)

Dickinson, even when choosing her own society, does not fail to remind herself of the cost of company, a cost not unlike isolation...

american politics

On NBC News' Interview with MLK, May 8th, 1967

I yield my time to a far more effective teacher than I am.

philosophy

On Machiavelli's "Letter to Vettori"

You must prepare to step into a different age when reading Machiavelli.

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "Freedom Find You"

I want to talk about love, panic, and language.

philosophy

Engineering Ethics and the Preface to Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil"

I feel like we live in an age where everyone reacts in blind panic if they sense their power is being challenged.

american politics

Toward a "Meaning of the Election" for the 2022 Midterms

What is the best question we can ask about the 2022 US midterms?

nietzsche

Nietzsche & Lawfulness: On the Opening of the Genealogy of Morals, Second Essay

I want to begin by placing Nietzsche's account of forgetting and memory in dialogue with a choice line from Plato.

philosophy

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

Our present moment indulges images of cars in distress.

education

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

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

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

poetry

from Marilyn Kallet's "You Can't"

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

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.