Ashok Karra

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.

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "hold on"

Kyla Houbolt has been writing amazing poetry on a regular basis, and I regret I cannot give all her work the attention it deserves.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Much Madness is divinest Sense"

When I encounter the sentence "Much Madness is divinest Sense," I think back to middle school and high school.

writing

A Short Tribute to Porochista Khakpour's "Just (Don't) Do It"

Now I have to write about myself again. It's not going great.

education

On Office Hours

OK, this is wild. Students at Harvard don't go to office hours?

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "The Sunset stopped on Cottages" (950)

I want Dickinson's confidence, though I can't help but think it hubris.

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "morning"

A few of my more fateful encounters have been with those obsessed with simplifying.

poetry

Matsuo Bashō, "Lady Butterfly"

Bashō witnesses a butterfly with resplendent, patterned wings hovering over an orchid.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "To fight aloud is very brave" (126)

Dickinson says "To fight aloud is very brave," and "brave" catches me unguarded. I don't think I've ever been "brave."