Possibly my best song, and certainly a song that is close to my heart, includes these lines: The rain has turned the yellow grass Seven shades of green. . . . It’s only a moment that we can smell the rain, And taste the salt on each other’s skins. It’s only a moment and then … Continue reading Seven Shades of Green
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Corporate Logic Vs. the Environment, Quality of Life, and Even Its Own Self-Interest….Please Let’s Stop It!
In few days I head for my summer writing retreat, a log cabin in the Wisconsin north woods where my mom grew up. It is halfway between Minneapolis and Duluth as the crow flies. This is where I go to detoxify from the toxic parts of working at a giant corporate university, to focus on … Continue reading Corporate Logic Vs. the Environment, Quality of Life, and Even Its Own Self-Interest….Please Let’s Stop It!
We Do Not Have to Live Like Rats Fighting for Scraps
When I started this blog, I imagined it as a place where I might gather and repost—when timely and appropriate—some of my earlier pieces that are “blog-friendly” in form, but scattered to the winds. I happened across one of these today, when I sent one of my students to a special issue of Dharma World … Continue reading We Do Not Have to Live Like Rats Fighting for Scraps
Against the Stereotype of Assuming That End-Times Believers Are Fatalistic
In both of the classes I am teaching this term, I have heard classroom comments about how end-times theologies correlate with "fatalism”—which in turn seems to correlate with some flavor of politics that is Trumpian and/or Republican and/or shading off toward wherever (if anywhere) the alt-right becomes so extreme that our resident criminal in the … Continue reading Against the Stereotype of Assuming That End-Times Believers Are Fatalistic
Ashamed…in a Land Where Justice is a Game
I don’t want to use this blog for running comments on the news. But I want to note three things today. As everyone knows, Paul Manafort received a 47 month sentence for multiple serious crimes, a slap on the wrist from a judge who was appointed by Ronald Reagan and gave an impression of bias … Continue reading Ashamed…in a Land Where Justice is a Game
Dog Park Sex and the Bankruptcy of “Refereed versus Non-Refereed” for Measuring Value
In my last post, I argued that “refereed” does not equal good, nor “non-refereed” bad—but rather “refereed or not” and “quality scholarship or not” (alongside other factors) are independent variables with approximately random correlation, at least in the intellectual networks where I do my work. I did not expect slam dunk support for my … Continue reading Dog Park Sex and the Bankruptcy of “Refereed versus Non-Refereed” for Measuring Value
Against Anti-Intellectual and Counterproductive Ways of Measuring Quality in the Writing of Scholars
I should not be writing this! I absolutely have better things to do, by almost any measure. Yet I have been asked by higher-ups to clarify which of my publications are “refereed” and which not. Unless I decide simply to resign, which among other things would entail leaving my current students in the lurch, I … Continue reading Against Anti-Intellectual and Counterproductive Ways of Measuring Quality in the Writing of Scholars
