Category Archives: Culture

I have a love-hate relationship with the word freedom. I fully realized why only recently while teaching a short story called “Pain” by Carlos Fuentes. The main character of the story is a Mexican college student studying at Cornell University. … Continue reading →

Yesterday someone stole my red duffel bag while I was working out at the college’s weight room. Not much was in it except my big wad of school keys. It was hanging on a hook right by the entrance to … Continue reading →

It is true that the bold have more adventures. But boldness should not be confused with pride. Often the door to adventures is a low one: humility. Regrettably, I know this because I know myself. When I examine why I … Continue reading →

In Coos Bay where I teach we have seen over the last ten years a marked increase in homeless people with signs standing at corners. Many of the regulars have dogs with them. Friday I saw one of the homeless … Continue reading →

Note: The following  (re-posted) essay is my attempt to write the essay I have asked my Writing 122 (Persuasive Writing) students to write. The assignment was to argue for what they think is the best source for moral judgments about … Continue reading →

I took Mira, our son’s Doberman, up to the cemetery for a run this afternoon. I have often admired and even envied how she runs and romps with joyous abandon. However, I also see her do stupid stuff that reminds … Continue reading →

Bird watching in the winter is hit or miss. Sometimes I walk through woods or along the lake at the college and nothing is moving—not a single bird is rustling in the bare alders or tall Douglas firs. Other times … Continue reading →

When I was nine I memorized the Beatitudes so Walla Walla First Church of the Nazarene would pay some of my cost of going to summer camp. So I have known the first one, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” … Continue reading →

I have a son that went skydiving, but fortunately as I get older I don’t have to do much to feel heroic. Teckla and I went camping! I suppose that exclamation point is silly, but it points out how even … Continue reading →