The United States begins its summer season a little ahead of the solstice with Memorial Day weekend. The end of May also brings my year-long writing experiment to a close. Thank you so much for reading and learning with me since last May. I’ll be writing again in a few weeks. Subscribers will hear first what’s next […]
A look at local history (and other updates)
Earlier this fall, I visited Oakley Cabin, a small wood and clay structure in Montgomery County, MD, that once housed the enslaved house, farm, and crafts workers of a White Quaker doctor. It’s the last of three cabins in that area, and the county has taken it on as a preservation site. Earlier in the […]
Why I write (Also, thank you)
Last fall, I spoke to the Society of Adventist Philosophers about how the Adventist community handles “the word” and how our commitments to literacy and logos influence our approach to informing, persuading, and communicating. Working on that paper sent me trekking through the library of Plato, especially the Phaedrus dialogues where Socrates and his interlocutors explore what the new art […]
Allowing yourself to change
Allowing yourself to change is a complex thing if only because it’s as easy to become attached to our own work as it is to become accustomed to our daily routines. Just as others come to have expectations of us, we also come to have expectations of ourselves, and so when we find ourselves growing […]
Back from the Mothership: #4C15
I’m back from the 2015 Conference on College Composition and Communication convention, a 5-day trip with the academic community I was last immersed in in 2012. I caught up with colleagues I’d left behind, and reconnected with others who were years ahead of me and now teach as tenured faculty members at universities across the South and Midwest. I also […]
New Writing, New Projects
We’re just two months away from the end of 2014, daylight hours are shortening (Eastern Daylight Time ends tomorrow morning), and I find myself turning toward revision and reflection. For the last few days I’ve been getting caught up in QuickBooks so I don’t have to futz with a million business receipts come January. And the […]