Encouragement

philosophy

Joan Didion, "On Self-Respect"

I want self-respect to claim its rightful place as an eminently useful concept.

poetry

Rita Dove, "Little Town"

This little, haiku-like poem by Rita Dove got me thinking about a lot of places I've been.

philosophy

Emerson on Surfaces; Hamilton Nolan on Joe Biden

Emerson: "We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them."

poetry

Suzanne Buffam, "On Antigone"

Suzanne Buffam's little lyric "On Antigone" strikes me as if the perfect words have been spoken.

american politics

Boring and Frightening, Both At Once

There's so much news and all of it is relevant.

poetry

Yosa Buson, "Early summer rain"

Lots of light rain in South Jersey makes everything a bit too overgrown.

philosophy

Camus on Art, Wealth, and Valuation

In Create Dangerously, Camus asks if art must either be "merely entertaining," trying to connect to the majority, or if it will get stuck expressing "nothing but negativity," trying to "blindly reject society."

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "I can wade Grief" (252)

Dickinson's darkly comic opening should rankle us. Really? You can wade grief?

education

Literacy and Leadership

"To thine own self be true," says Polonius, and viewers of Hamlet might think it terrible advice.

poetry

Kobayashi Issa, "Napped half the day"

It's been a month.

poetry

Denise Levertov, "Witness"

What an amazing presence, a mountain.

poetry

Chase Twichell, "Animal Caution"

Mom is in the hospital.

education

On Conferences, or Thank You To Sigma Tau/Sigma Kappa Delta for "In Flux"

I initially resisted some of the best advice I got in graduate school: go to conferences.

poetry

Wislawa Szymborska, "In the Park"

Wislawa Szymborska captures a small but subversive comedy with "In the Park."

poetry

Donika Kelly, "Sanctuary"

A powerful poetry reading can't be written about, probably. However, we can say "these words struck me. I should speak, too."

education

How to Maintain an Innovative Chapter, or Unofficial Year in Review for Sigma Kappa Delta, Psi Alpha Chapter AY 2023-24

...the Psi Alpha chapter of Odessa College has done incredible work this past year.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Fame is the one that does not stay" (Franklin 1507)

There is no way to talk about being American without confronting Emily Dickinson.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "The Savior must have been a docile Gentleman" (1487)

Sometimes I think about doing. Perhaps there is a meaning to doing itself, a meaning that holds true for all actions.

SOLAE "Rookie of the Year" Award

I just received the "Rookie of the Year" award from Odessa College's School of Liberal Arts and Education (SOLAE).

poetry

William Butler Yeats, "The Choice"

Yeats proclaims that "[t]he intellect... is forced to choose / Perfection of the life, or of the work."

sheila heti

Are friends simply those who are around?

Heti writes: "Your friends were simply who was around."

poetry

Robert Creeley, "Oh"

Listen and look. Creeley's sentence does not just surprise with sadness: "Oh like a bird / falls down / out of air."

james baldwin

"You gave us ourselves to think about, to cherish."

So many magnificent moments in Toni Morrison's eulogy for James Baldwin.

philosophy

Francis Bacon, "Of Delays"

...the logic behind promoting practical, effective action in any and all cases has become a wasteland for powerful abusers and their craven, crank fanboys.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "All You Did"

"All you did," says Kay Ryan, "was / walk into a room." Just from that, you unknowingly scaled a sheer vertical face.