Examining a Changing Academy

Hello from my upstairs office, As I move into my last month of teaching during the academic year, and there is an additional four week summer course to manage, I find myself stepping back to reflect on what being involved in some kind of teaching since 1992 has shown. When I took that first position

Time Passages: The Loss of Important People

Hello from my little corner in Panera Bread, As has been my practice for a few years now, and without my trusty accomplice, I am back in Panera sitting where there is an outlet and I can do work. It is Monday, but it seems like I have done three days work already, and it

Our Propensity for Drama

Good morning very early Wednesday morning, After an incredibly wonderful, though a bit chilly and wet New Year’s Eve, it seems in spite of vaccinations and a good coat and scarf, I have managed to become one of the numbers (statistics) of which I wrote in my last blog. I have been the majority of

Larger Voices Calling

Hello from about an hour from Oslo, I am in Norway, a country significant to my family heritage and childhood memories, but for the first time. It is a place I have read about, a country I have spoken about with both academics, classmates, or relatives – a country, which has intrigued me. That intrigue

The Role of Art. Music, and Theatre in Life

Hello from the study, Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak with a former student, someone who cared for Lydia after I first left Wisconsin and someone I admire for so many reasons. She was shy and unsure of herself when I first met her in that freshman writing class, but she is now an

Words and the Ethical Dimension of Power

Hello from my study, Another day, more time in front of the computer. More time on the phone. More time on text messaging, and more time trying to manage the needs on both sides of this remote equation. It is sometimes comical and simultaneously touching. It is sometimes tiring and overwhelming; and sometimes it is

Being Thankful

Hello from my kitchen in the morning, Hard to believe it is already Wednesday of our break. Harder to believe it is almost the end of November; and perhaps hardest of all to come to terms with we are finishing the second decade of a new millennium. I was speaking with Al, the person in

Trying to Make Sense of Our Illogical World

Hello after a quick trip to Cape Charles and “Life on the Half Shell” and now weeks beyond, It is the end of the Bloomburg Fair week and Anton has had the week off of school. He has become a fair aficionado, but I guess that is something he can always take back to Denmark.

What to Do: the Sharp Side of the Doubled-Edged Sword

Hello on my first full weekend in Krakow, Yesterday (Friday, the 28th) was the first day that I have not had to some home and jump in a shower from the heat since I arrived in Europe. Last week I was in Moscow on the hottest day they had on record in June since 1956.

Gratefulness 40 Years in the Making

Cześć w chłodniejszy poranek z Krakowa, What I have said is “hello on a cooler morning” from the sort of intellectual capital of Poland, the former capitol city, Kraków. It is actually by 7th time to this city of a little over a million people. With sites like Wawel Castle, the picture at the top