In the modern world, youth culture, and especially collegiate culture, is often activist culture. Among the college-aged, a freshness of vision combines with just enough personal skill and knowledge to beget (at least sometimes) a burning sense of responsibility. One phrase associated with collegiate protest culture, and with social activism in general, is “be the…

This past month, my wife and I had a Muslim Kazak family over for dinner. To show hospitality, we did not take down all of our Christian symbols in the house. In addition, we began the dinner as usual, with a prayer in Jesus’s name (I explained that as Christians this practice was our usual…

Author’s note: This piece is based on a speech delivered to graduate students at the annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South in 2008, when I could legitimately claim to be midlife. I dedicate it to my daughter, Natalie, who will soon be starting a tenure-track position of her own…

Before I sold out to become a rich and powerful philosophy professor in Dubuque, Iowa, I spent several years working at group homes for people with disabilities both physical and intellectual. My wife, who has even more experience in that field, has at various times in her life been severely disabled, due to her multiple…

I am the elephant in the room. Everywhere I go, people are unintentionally drawn to me. Or rather, people are drawn to a part of me. You see, I was born without my right forearm and hand due to Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS). I used to wear a prosthetic arm, but due to some physical…

The book of Genesis opens with the creation account describing a beautiful world of sea, earth, sky, plants, fish, birds and other animals. Tucked away in the midst of this story is a curious verse which seems out of place. The verse is Genesis 2:12, which parenthetically mentions that “The gold of that land is…

Just this month, the Social Security Administration announced that Social Security benefits for over 66 million Americans will increase by 3.2 percent in 2024.https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2023/#10-2023-2. For those who receive benefits, this cost-of-living adjustment will be a welcome step to help them deal with the impact of inflation.https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/12/cpi-september-2023.html. Social Security is perhaps the most successful government program…

Talking about eunuchs in the classroom can be awkward. I can still vividly recall the very first course I ever taught and the student in that course who raised her hand to ask innocently, “This Bible verse says something about eunuchs. What’s a eunuch?” As a brand new teacher, I fumbled my response quite badly…

“Take a look and see if you can see the differences here,” I said offhandedly to a student I was tutoring. As soon as I said it, I felt my face go red with shame. What would have been a perfectly unremarkable statement to any other student felt embarrassingly wrong when directed to the student…

Good, but way too busy. Semester’s a little crazy. When can I apply for sabbatical? So much for work/life balance. Hoping things slow down a little. These are responses from colleagues as we pass in the hall and offer a perfunctory, How are you?  We all seemingly bemoan time moving way too quickly – with…