Category Archives: Essay
To Lead, To Drive, To Do: Why (and How) I Teach
(Originally published December 29, 2018) Students tend to like solid, concrete, specific answers. Or, more accurately, they like to know, solidly, concretely, and specifically what answers I want from them. They rarely get them, however, and that’s a good thing. … Continue reading
Trump and the Blood Libel
I have said before that Trump has intentionally evoked thinly veiled white supremacist rhetoric. I’ll cover a few instances of this before noting what I found most disturbing in his speech from Tulsa, and what it has to do with … Continue reading
Who Made Whom? The Legacy of Fingerpointing in the Era of Trump
Someone posted this as pushback to the fear and bewilderment at Trump and his ilk, and the rise of fascistic ideology springing up worldwide. I felt the need to reply. “How did this happen you ask? You created “us” when … Continue reading
Losing Treasures; the Need for Cursive
Article for the school paper, March, 2017 I have a treasure in my home, but I cannot access it. The treasure is a box of letters and postcards from grandparents, great-grandparents, great aunts, and others of my family. I am … Continue reading
The Mindset of the GOP & What it Means for the Future.
A recent public opinion poll (released Feb 24, 2015) showed a couple of very scary points. There is a lot about favored presidential contenders (though none had yet announced), and some not very surprising assessments of public opinion regarding other … Continue reading
The American Dream: A cultural theory perspective
I recently got chatting with someone I met on a political forum and found myself in a (surprisingly and pleasantly civil) political discussion. The other person and I tend to come from rather different views, but our discourse has been … Continue reading
Review: PBS Secret Files of the Inquisition, Episode One: The Land of Error
(2006, PBS) I am a big fan of PBS in general. So when a documentary series covering the history of the Inquisition and some of the major heretical movements in medieval Europe showed up on my Netflix recommendations list, I … Continue reading