Think clearly. Act well. Appreciate life.
I’m going to interweave about four stories here. Let me begin with one of which I’m not terribly proud. I went on the job market the fall of 1999. It was a shockingly good year in my field, with a number of great jobs listed, and I was in a surprisingly strong position, with a …
By the early years of the twentieth century, China had suffered unduly at the hands of European, American, and Japanese colonialism. The Chinese citizenry had been deeply dissatisfied with the way the Qing dynasty—itself a foreign dynasty ruled by Manchus—had failed to protect China from the encroachment of increasing numbers of foreign powers. By the …
As I start the year 2021, I think back on my almost twenty-five and a half years of life and of being born into a time of increasing calls for awareness, equity, and justice for human beings, regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc. I think about hard conversations, different realities that various groups of …
“You have to do your own research instead of believing everything they tell you.” Have you ever heard this online? Do you get tired of hearing this online? I sure have. Whether it’s about vaccines, election results, global warming, or just that one high school acquaintance selling weight loss products, everyone online seems to be …
One of my houseplants started to wilt last week. Wanting to stop more yellowing or decay, I gave the plant an extra watering. To my dismay, the plant seemed to wilt more rapidly after I doubled its dosage of H2O. I conducted a hasty search on the Internet, wondering what I was missing. After consulting …
As a student of rhetoric, I’m well aware of my obligation to wax eloquent on the democratic process and the power of deliberation on the heels of an historic election, but can I please not, please? Instead I want to talk about punk rock. I was introduced to punk rock in high school when a …
This summer, amid protests for Black Lives Matter, anti-mask movements, and other instances of social unrest, rapper J. Cole penned the lyrics “My IQ is average, there’s a young lady out there, she way smarter than me / I scrolled through her timeline in these wild times, and I started to read . . . …
What will happen tomorrow? As I ask myself this question, I feel, perhaps with many others across the nation and the world, a lurch in my stomach. It’s not an enjoyable question to let lurk in one’s mind, no matter what end of the political spectrum you might land on. Yet the question lurks all …
There have been different times throughout history when marginalized groups have received greater recognition, more rights, and greater power in their communities and nations. However, a major problem that occurs at the same time is that only a part of these marginalized groups seems to progress forward, causing other members of the group, who could …
Prologue In her song, “Little Good News”, Canadian songstress Ann Murray sang about the turbulence that marked the 70s and 80s. Her line in the chorus “We all could use a little good news today” seems all the more relevant for our time nearly 40 years later. In recent years, divisions have been increasing in …