Hello from a Mediterranean Coffee Shop, We are down to hours left in the class portion of the semester and finals begin on Monday. I remember customarily feeling both anticipation and exhaustion as I faced the impending end of every semester. Part of it was pouring everything I had most of the time into everyContinue reading “Someone to Believe”
Tag Archives: #rhetoric
Lonely as a Cloud
Hello at the end of a long day, I have been in my office most of the day working, and there is more to do, but my eyes are tired. Working to review student’s submitted work can be exhilarating and exasperating in the same moment. I am excited when I labor through a cover letterContinue reading “Lonely as a Cloud”
Facing Mental Illness with Compassion
Hello from a quiet table and pondering the struggle of so many, This past week I have been confronted with two specific incidences where a person certainly struggles with some form of mental illness. Let me begin with two important facts. I am not a psychologist nor a psychiatrist, nor do I have an MSW.Continue reading “Facing Mental Illness with Compassion”
Out of the Depths, O Lord . . .
Hello from my study, There are a multitude of thoughts, emotions, concerns, and fears as I reflect on the pictures of our national Capitol yesterday. I do not mean that to be a political statement, it is a statement of one single individual, a former pastor, a Marine Corps veteran, a person who has RepublicanContinue reading “Out of the Depths, O Lord . . .”
When We Seem More Broken than Not
Hello from my office, It is not by accident that I am writing this on the day following the 245th Anniversary of the foundation of the United States Marine Corps and on Veterans’ Day at a few minutes from the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month. I am hurting. I amContinue reading “When We Seem More Broken than Not”
To the Third and Fourth Generation
Hello from my office, I have been grading and chatting with students trying to help them manage a major paper, one much longer than many have ever written or even fathomed in high school. While I do not think it is a difficult assignment, I am well aware that this is not comparing apples toContinue reading “To the Third and Fourth Generation”
“Are We Still of Any Use?”
Hello from my kitchen bar counter on a Thursday afternoon, When I began writing this, we had just managed freezing weather, wind chills of the lower 20s in May, and then during a week of grading, yesterday felt like summer might actually be on the horizon (and even in my yard). It was a weekContinue reading ““Are We Still of Any Use?””
Questioning, Pondering, Disagreeing, and Respecting
Good late Saturday morning from my study, I have another blog I have been working on for about a week, but have decided to shelve it for the moment and take a different direction. I has some issues with sleeping last night, if I am going to be as transparent as I believe I should.Continue reading “Questioning, Pondering, Disagreeing, and Respecting”
What is in a Decade? (and I have not forgotten about hope)
Hello from my study. Somehow I thought I wrote an entire paragraph or two before I went to a meeting, but I guess I have lost it. I think it was because I had not saved and then closed some windows. That is not the first technological snafu I have accomplished or preformed today, soContinue reading “What is in a Decade? (and I have not forgotten about hope)”
Moving Toward a Rhetoric of Hope
Good Saturday Morning, It has been a bit of a crazy week. At this point last weekend, my HP tablet, the university computer, decided (for the second time) to pop the plastic clips that hold one side of the case closed. I believe it is the case of an overheated battery again, causing the caseContinue reading “Moving Toward a Rhetoric of Hope”