Blog

Dear Provost

Today I saw yet another professor complaining about students on social media. Now I am all in favor of people being able to vent, but be mindful of power. The place to vent about students is NEVER in public, but rather in person, in group chats, in slack, etc. But I do think we can … Continue ReadingDear Provost

Don’t say Race (in Florida schools)

Ron DeSantis banned AP African-American Studies. The President’s of Florida’s 28 state colleges announced they would not support “any institutional practice, policy or academic requirement that compels belief in critical race theory or related concepts such as intersectionality.” [Note: Taking a class on a topic does not compel belief. That’s not how education works. It … Continue ReadingDon’t say Race (in Florida schools)

On Pacifism

The pitch from the publicist came by surprise, alerting me to a new book about pacifists and their struggles during WW2 and how resisting the “good war” shaped later efforts during the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam movement. “That’s my grandad,” I said, and quickly sent off a pitch to an editor at the … Continue ReadingOn Pacifism

On “In-Class” Tests

Once upon a time the Chronicle of Higher Education created a webby bloggy site called Chronicle Vitae. The idea is that it would be Linkedin but for higher ed (I think. They never told freelancers like me!) with jobs, profiles, connections, messaging, and blog posts and I wrote a bunch of pieces for them. But it’s all offline … Continue ReadingOn “In-Class” Tests

The New Puritans

In August 2021, the journalist Anne Applebaum, wrote an essay called “The New Puritans” about online speech. There are many things about the essay that are true! Online speech is complicated and many people behave really badly. And yet, I keep coming back to this thesis. After talking about repression in Turkey, Applebaum writes: In … Continue ReadingThe New Puritans

Poem

Yesterday I took an electric leaf blower and blew out a layer of dead leaves, broken sticks, moldy mulch, and all the detritus of a too long winter out into the yards, then carted it away to the top of a hill and into the woods. It made way for us to plant flowers and … Continue ReadingPoem