Of Christmas, Climate Change, and Communication

My title is not mere alliteration. Christmas, climate change, and communication have more in common than just the letter “c.” What else unites this holiday, hot topic, and humanistic discipline? For starters, climate change referentials are hidden throughout the holiday hymns. We sing “Joy to the world” and “Let earth receive her King!” (#201, emphasis …

On Confidence

Welcome back from Thanksgiving break, and best of luck as you move into the wind-up phase of the semester. I promise to keep this blog entry brief—proceed with confidence. I’ve been musing on confidence and its origins. Etymology provides no sure guide to words’ current meanings, I know, even if words do seem to remember …

Golden Odes and Ruby-Red Letters: Why Classical Arabic Literature Matters Today

In spring 2021, a Saudi man named Sultan Aldeet netted himself one million Emirati dirhams (roughly $273,000 USD) plus a symbolic cloak and ring. His achievement? Winning first place on Prince of Poets, an American Idol-inspired TV contest in the United Arab Emirates between classical Arabic poets.[1] It airs every other year from Abu Dhabi …

Musings on Methodology: Or, On Types of Inquiry

One of the mandatory jobs of a new graduate student is to be extremely frolicsome among research interests and subdisciplines—to haphazardly flit among the flowers of knowledge in one’s department or program, relishing the opportunity to taste the nectar of as many buds as possible. Such a metaphor was also invoked by the Renaissance-era humanist …

A (Missed) Shoutout for Rhetoric: Memory Places in a Cal Newport Self-Help Book

I’ve been reading Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. It is fantastic. I commend it to all of you. It has led me to transform many of my work habits. At the same time, I found myself laughing and then groaning when my very own academic discipline and …