Cleaning Up
My office, that is. I was asked to move out of my office the same month one of my articles graced the cover of the premier journal in my field Although faculty members are fleeing my department like fleas from…
Liberal Education in a Neocon Nation
What does it mean to teach liberally? The obvious answer, which might even be correct, is found in the dictionary, where we find that liberal means "broad-minded" (among other things). I agree with the dictionary but I don't think it…
Infiltrating the mainstream media
I'll be writing for Examiner, at least on a trial basis. Although this is a mainstream outlet, there likely will be some overlap with topics on this blog. My first piece is about the Wilderness Act, and it's here. Please…
Celebration and Cognitive Dissonance (But Not Celebrating Cognitive Dissonance)
As I break away from the shore, I have been given many opportunities to ponder the extraordinary nature of my life (so far). I’m reminded by this week’s post at survival acres that “you cannot change the system from within, all you’re doing is playing musical chairs as it is too entrenched and has too much inertia to effectively be changed,” and “departing from the system is the first critical step, you must stop feeding the beast.”
I’m done feeding the beast, but not quite done feeding my stomach or my ego. So the week has been filled with at-least-daily celebrations, and they continue through the weekend, when a dozen students will be visiting the mud hut and meeting with the locally famous primitivist.
Illegitimi non carborundum
I love the Socratic aspect of academia, and it’s the part I do best. I supervise nine independent-study projects this semester, with a total of ten students. Most of them have spent a weekend at the mud hut, or soon will. Indeed, I’m just back from the mud hut, where I spent the weekend with one of the students, the poet in resident at the renowned University of Arizona Poetry Center. He called the trip “transformative.” I meet regularly with all the students, probing and pushing until they do more and better work than any of us thought possible. Ditto for the small, hard-working herd of graduate students I advised and mentored during two wonderful decades.
What I Live for
I still struggle every day to find meaning in a universe without meaning. Who shall I serve? For now, I can serve students and society by teaching and acting as if a single life can make a difference in a world gone awry. For now, I can demonstrate the value and importance of relationships, relative to accomplishments. For now, I can be kind to individuals while forcing institutions to do right, even if it means being unkind to individuals who represent institutions. For now, I can serve people by criticizing society.