Encouragement

american politics

You should read Tatiana Schlossberg's "A Battle with My Blood"

American history is full of remarkable documents, ones with a sacred aura compelling reverence from readers.

american politics

Hunger in the Permian Basin

In order to love your neighbor, you have to know you have neighbors.

education

After the Conference

You do lots, it's all productive, everyone gains, there's so much to celebrate. Time slows down.

education

Democratic Erosion and Ungrading at the 2025 Northeastern Political Science Association Meeting

Education is a responsibility to your community.

heidegger

2025 NPSA Paper Presentation: Heidegger, Antigone, and Authenticity

Like many of you, I'm thinking and teaching about what comes next.

american politics

On Federalism

Federalism is an old solution to a perennial problem.

education

Remarks for Introducing Sigma Kappa Delta, Psi Alpha Chapter's "Falloween" Event

Gathering in today's day and age is an activity which can receive mild disapproval, if not outright hostility.

poetry

Sara Miller, "Countermeasures"

Thus you have to turn to the ducks. There is no choice.

poetry

Virginia Konchan, "Zoo"

I'm sitting with "the clay heart of Nature," thinking how malleable the most pristine encounters I've had with the natural world have been.

poetry

Ye Hui, "The Witch"

The witch proclaiming "You see nothing / Clearly" is the one statement of this poem which fits the facts.

american politics

You need to see this awful CNBC report about the shutdown

To be sure, what I've linked to below is financial journalism. A lot of that is by definition obscene.

american politics

Explaining the U.S. Presidency in 2025

What AI allows is the cult around the President to imagine anything they want and instantly create media which looks legitimate enough.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "New Rooms"

How do each of us deal with a world continually in flux without any time to think?

education

Sigma Kappa Delta, Psi Alpha Chapter Guide for Officers

Why doesn't everyone want to be an officer? It's obviously awesome.

education

Teaching Texas Government in 2025

...what you really want is immersion in the problem. Not simply "you can choose to explore this," but recognition of an enormity.

education

Join Sigma Kappa Delta, Psi Alpha Chapter

[L]earning how to understand and use your voice requires continual growth...

poetry

Robin Davidson, "Winter Litany"

I confess I was never patient enough to sit and watch the snow fall for a little while.

A Summary of the Responses to the Lesson Plan on the Texas Floods

We can celebrate the original, thoughtful contributions of earnest students.

basho

Bashō, "Here, where a thousand captains swore"

The only legacy which matters is a space for others.

philosophy

On Plato's Cave

Why is Plato's Allegory of the Cave compelling? Why has it captivated readers for centuries?

poetry

Yosa Buson, "The old fisherman"

I wonder if this is aging: refusing to look elsewhere, focusing on the object in front.

poetry

Seamus Heaney, "North"

We travel to see history and find dust.

poetry

Kay Ryan, "Why We Must Struggle"

At some point, the world is in fact a moral order, because it cannot be otherwise.

american politics

On American Nihilism

This is how we have destroyed the world, with an absolute right to "takes."

philosophy

Existentialism and the Concept of Man

Some turn to philosophy to be able to tell everyone else they're wrong.