Encouragement

A Short Talk on Fear

I want to introduce you to a curious sort of poem. The poet and classicist Anne Carson has these poems she calls “Short Talks."

music

Tracy Chapman covers "Stand by Me" on Letterman in 2015

Lots of praise for this Tracy Chapman cover of "Stand by Me" on Letterman in 2015.

philosophy

A Quick Comment on Leo Strauss' "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero" and the phenomenon of "Red Caesarism"

...some academics contend the United States has entered a "post-Constitutional" period where the emergence of a "Caesar" is necessary and/or deserved.

philosophy

Poetry and Nihilism: Confronting the Nothing

My aim is to introduce the concept of nihilism as a philosophical and academic matter.

poetry

The "otherwise peaceful quiet:" Kyla Houbolt, "early"

Busy-ness and its associated anxieties, I believe, can be an amplified effect.

education

Eulogy for Jack Phipps

Jack Phipps was one of the best experiences of my time at CCHS.

writing

Writing Oneself: An Outline for a Short Talk

It may not be auspicious to begin by admitting a mistake, but William Deresiewicz had it right at the end of "The Disadvantages of an Elite Education."

writing

Find Your Voice

How do I convince students to write like they will be heard?

american politics

Let's talk a bit more about the Burger King employee who got candy for working 20 years without calling in sick

Lincoln says that the fathers of the United States "conceived [it] in Liberty," "dedicated [it] to the proposition that all men are created equal."

poetry

On Burdens: Kay Ryan, "Atlas"

"Extreme exertion / isolates a person / from help, / discovered Atlas."

education

About Me, 8/21/23

Every semester I ask my students to talk about themselves. This semester I have a lot of high school students taking dual credit courses.

poetry

Against Ableist Religiosity: On John Milton's Sonnet 19 & Nate Klug's "Milton's God"

I am thinking about service.

american politics

On Texas Nationalism

I'm sitting at the bar, sipping a margarita, and chatting pleasantly with two older couples.

poetry

Anxiety and Creativity: Bartolo Cattafi, "No Escape"

"There's no escaping from this room," Cattafi intones, leading me to ask: this room? What room?

american politics

The 1st Amendment, "the right to be an asshole," and trust

...Jonathan Katz talks about "the right to be an asshole."

poetry

Wisława Szymborska, "Puddles"

Szymborska's riddling moral in "Puddles" fascinates both as a matter of craft and as a puzzle about our paranoia

poetry

Kyla Houbolt, "The Yellow Submarine"

Kyla Houbolt's "The Yellow Submarine" presents us with yellow everywhere.

philosophy

Heidegger's "Unfaith"

...I want to look at some remarks of Heidegger which concern how faith relates to the question "Why are there beings at all instead of nothing?"

poetry

Isabella Mori, "Not So Pretty Haiku"

Mori achieves an affecting memoir of what COVID wrought.

philosophy

Introducing Heidegger's "Fundamental Question of Metaphysics"

...I was not convinced in the least that "Why is there anything at all?" was a good question.

heidegger

On the Prefatory Note of Heidegger's "Introduction to Metaphysics"

In my early twenties, I was assigned Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics for a class. I did not get very far.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, “A Letter is a joy of Earth” (1639)

Letters are not easy. I know this, but I write bad ones anyway.

art

Agnes Martin, "Praise"

It is a pink square with a texture like a paper napkin.

philosophy

On the Problem of "Missing Out"

We believe who we were could understand who we are.

poetry

Emily Dickinson, "As willing lid o’er weary eye" (1050)

...the evening would not be the evening, nor the day the day, if we did not labor and require rest.