Thank You Olga Berluti When I was young, I learned to tie my shoes with a simple standard shoelace knot. It did the job, most of the time. But sometimes at least one would slowly work it’s way loose or undone. In fact, this happened about every day. …

As the semester draws to a close and grades for courses offered this term are finalized, its time to do two things: For Department Chairs and Program Directors, it's time to review program assessment plans, remember which assessments need to be analyzed and findings written in light of courses taught…

If colleges and universities are going to survive and even thrive in face of the potentially revolutionary social, economic, and cultural developments that we face, it seems that getting clarity around individual and institutional values in light of dominant cultural values and acting with intentionality is critical. Recently a post…

Education is an expression of hope. It is the optimistic creation of a species empowered by a vivid imagination, a compulsion to sort experiences into two buckets (one labeled “good” and the other “not good”), and a strong tendency to regretfully reflect on the past. At some point in life…

I wanted to get healthier — sub 25 BMI was the way I framed it up several months ago. I was definitely moving in the other direction and rapidly gaining momentum. In July, I targeted “maybe by Christmas.” I believe I’m well on my way to health, having passed tangible…

History is the art of telling true stories about the human past. The stories historians tell have creative power. They inspire, communicate values and virtues, and have the power to debride a festering wound and promote cultural healing or infect society with nasty micromemes that weaken and destroy. Ultimately, historical…

Laughing Gull Lessons — A Meditation on Boundaries Laughing Gull Observations Navarre Beach, Florida. August 2021. Cloudy, rainy day. The laughing gulls stand watch at surfs edge, looking out to sea. I’ve ensconced myself beneath my umbrella, doing the same. Dead fish float in on the waves and slosh about…

I still recall it vividly. I was 13. Standing in the small narthex of a country church as a pall bearer at my grandfather’s funeral, my aunts, uncles, and cousins filed by saying their consolations. I’d been close to him. We lived next door to one another on the farm…

Each person has an identity — a core set of beliefs about themselves. Some aspects of this identity are public, some private, and some hidden. Characteristics of identity are bequeathed by biology — determined by genetic makeup and/or shaped by encounters with conditions that organize the brain, hormones, etc. Other characteristics are imposed by society operating at the level of culture. Normative definitions…