Monthly Archives: January 2016

Teaching, Ethics, and the “F”

In almost a decade of teaching freshmen and sophomore level college courses, I have had to give “F”s on a regular basis. It’s one of the hardest things about being a professor. I (almost) always feel that giving an “F” is somewhat immoral and unethical because it tends to assume success and failure can beContinue reading “Teaching, Ethics, and the “F””

How we have conversations about the homeless is a problem.

Yesterday evening I heard parts of interview on NPR where the guest being interview made some disturbing comments about people so afflicted with poverty that they don’t have a place to live or any kind of basic, reliable shelter – those who are homeless.  The person being interview discussed the homeless problem as having two mainContinue reading “How we have conversations about the homeless is a problem.”

Spring 2016 Update

Just a quick note that my blogging activity will likely be less for a while. I’m doing my best to devote every free second to finishing my dissertation so I can graduate this semester. Yesterday, I emailed 100 polished pages to my advisor. This semester I am also teaching three classes and facing the usualContinue reading “Spring 2016 Update”

Happy 2016?!: Humans, Numbers, and Challenges

Humans put an odd emphasis on years, decades, centuries, and millennia, not to mention seconds, minutes, hours, days, and weeks. The long process of industrialism has only exacerbated the (“evil”?) necessity of such socially constructed measurements. Our lives are controlled, very simply, by the clock, by the rhymes and rhythms of industry and capitalism. ThatContinue reading “Happy 2016?!: Humans, Numbers, and Challenges”