Encouragement

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."

poetry

Gabrielle Calvocoressi, "At Last the New Arriving"

So much joy in Gabrielle Calvocoressi's "At Last the New Arriving." So much joy you might miss the struggle.

poetry

Martin Espada, "The Florida Citrus Growers Association Responds to a Proposed Law Requiring Handwashing Facilities in the Fields"

I have been thinking lately about how we survive and thrive in our own little dreamworlds.

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "Mirror"

What if a life well-lived was nothing but running as fast as you can, whenever you could?

poetry

Amy King, "Ivywall of Sparrows"

Joy has been difficult this week. Difficult to indulge, difficult to share.

education

What I Mean When I Call Your Work "Good"

What follows are some thoughts for a discussion in a Texas Government class tonight.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "The things we thought that we should do" (1293)

This Thanksgiving, I forgot to count my blessings.

poetry

Katia Kapovich, "Apartment 75"

I want to talk about light in Katia Kapovich's "Apartment 75" (CW: suicide).

texas

Can Texans communicate better?

I lived in Dallas 20 years and felt like an outsider the whole time.

education

Remarks given at a Lenten Retreat of Collegium Cantorum at Cistercian Abbey in Irving, TX

...what got me through grad school was being involved with choir.

education

Short Encomium for Joshua Parens

For me, Dr. Parens’ tenure as Dean was perfectly in line with his teaching as a professor.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "Because I could not stop for Death"

I never thought I'd see a world dominated this thoroughly by big babies who have the magic power of making the unacceptable seem rational.

philosophy

On Heidegger's Reading of the "Ode to Man" in Introduction to Metaphysics

Why should we care about Heidegger's reading of Antigone's "Ode to Man?"

poetry

Zena Agha, "Elegy for Return #1"

Zena Agha's "Elegy for Return #1" stunned me for a number of reasons, some of them selfish.