Maintaining Civility in our Uncivil Country

Hello from a dining room table. Two weeks from tonight most of us will be glued to some sort of media trying to understand which person we will call our President for the next four years. Of course, the expectation that we might find something reminiscent of 2000 is relatively high, and the worry aboutContinue reading “Maintaining Civility in our Uncivil Country”

Failing at Something or Learning as a Process

Hello from my study, I am often asked if I knew I was going to be a professor earlier in my life. The answer is a simple and straightforward NO. Not in my wildest dreams, or more likely, nowhere in the realm of possibility could I have imagined that I would become a college professor.Continue reading “Failing at Something or Learning as a Process”

The Difference Between Being Important and Thinking You Are

Hello from a bit of an unpredicted appointment, Good Monday morning from Geisinger-Danville. What began as a follow up appointment has turned into much more. I am continually amazed by the complexity of the human body, but even more so by how many of those intricacies we take for granted. I have learned a greatContinue reading “The Difference Between Being Important and Thinking You Are”

Remembering My Heroine

Hello on a Sunday afternoon, Forty-seven years ago today, I was marching on the grinder as we called it, proud that I had made it through 90 days of processing and training known as Marine Corps Boot Camp. There was more than once I doubted I had what it took to make it through. EvenContinue reading “Remembering My Heroine”

Who am I? Imagining Identity

Hello from my office at school, It is strange to be in my office at the university for hours on end and see almost no one, and yet, that is our lives in this fall of 2020. If we had our pre-Covid world yet, I would be arriving in Poland this week to begin aContinue reading “Who am I? Imagining Identity”

Nationalism is not Patriotism

Hello on an extremely warm first Monday of summer. As you can see from the intro, I began this blog almost three months ago and it was extremely warm and dry summer. The need for rain here in north central Pennsylvania is still real. The summer was abnormal because we are still trying to figureContinue reading “Nationalism is not Patriotism”

Just What Did I Learn?

Hello from my study on the acre. Over the past week there have been ongoing conversations (messages, timeline postings, PM, texts) between some of my classmates, and particularly classmates from when I was a student at Dana College, a small Lutheran liberal arts college. It was a college for 125 years (and also a seminaryContinue reading “Just What Did I Learn?”

The Interconnectivity of Freedom

Hello on a hot September day from the Acre, It seems that the daily news has done a great deal to separate who we are as a society and it is easy to blame the news, and that goes across the spectrum. One of the things I tell my students regularly is simply this: allContinue reading “The Interconnectivity of Freedom”

Procrastination: A Mental or Emotional Block?

Hello from my office in the house, I am going to head to the university shortly, mask in hand, and lock myself way in my office. There are multiple reasons for that, but suffice it to say my technology at home and I are fighting. Technology is winning, which is usually the case. It isContinue reading “Procrastination: A Mental or Emotional Block?”

A New Academic Year – An Incredibly Strange One

Hello from my home office, It is the first day of my eleventh year at Bloomsburg. It is the first day of the COVID-dictated return to campus and a time of unprecedented angst. I decided to write for a bit because I am required to update a variety of software on campus to my universityContinue reading “A New Academic Year – An Incredibly Strange One”