Category Archives: Uncategorized

What “A Different World” taught me 30 years ago

Wow, that title makes me sound old. (Spoiler alert: I guess I am old.) When I was in college, one of the few things I watched religiously each week was A Different World. I loved Whitley and Dwayne Wayne and Jalisa and Walter and Kim and Freddie and all the rest. I watched the show inContinue reading “What “A Different World” taught me 30 years ago”

Mutual aid: How we care for each other

The term “mutual aid” is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a collaboration between community members, and a voluntary exchange of resources between them. We generally may think of mutual aid as existing most often in communities that have been economically (and in other ways) marginalized, but mutual aid also exists in faith communitiesContinue reading “Mutual aid: How we care for each other”

Happy Birthday, Dr. King: I am sorry we haven’t bent the arc more yet.

Though we have an official day to recognize Dr. King’s birthday coming up next week, today (January 15) is his actual birthday. Going to college in Memphis and spending several years there after college, I visited the National Civil Rights Museum (at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated) many times. I have hadContinue reading “Happy Birthday, Dr. King: I am sorry we haven’t bent the arc more yet.”

“Small flat rigid squares of paper”: Books that shaped me in 2024

Several years ago, a friend introduced me to Anne Lamott, and specifically to her book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. I have given this book to several people over the years, including to a special student this year who served as a teaching assistant for me. And I have re-bought myselfContinue reading ““Small flat rigid squares of paper”: Books that shaped me in 2024″

Inconceivable Truth: Podcasts in Teaching Part 2

I have written before about using podcasts in teaching: here, with how you might use the Do No Harm Podcast and here, with ideas for using The Call, which is an episode of This American Life podcast. For various reasons in the past week, I have been by myself in the car more than usualContinue reading “Inconceivable Truth: Podcasts in Teaching Part 2”

Synchronicity in classroom and community

This semester I am teaching in an interdisciplinary learning community (ILC), which is part of our university’s general education curriculum. The ILC is called “Introduction to Trauma Studies” and the two courses are the human behavior across the lifespan course that I teach and a literature/writing course which is taught by a colleague in the EnglishContinue reading “Synchronicity in classroom and community”

Creatively applied learning

Every fall semester for the past 10 years I have taught a social welfare policy course. This is a course where social work majors and occasionally some social justice minors take a dive into a broad array of policy topics. This is a class where we discuss so many policy topics (child welfare, housing, food andContinue reading “Creatively applied learning”

Longest semester ever.

Woof. This is feeling like the longest semester ever. It has been feeling like that for several weeks now. A few weeks ago I broke a bone in my right foot. Boot life doesn’t lend itself well to campus life, even on a relatively compact campus. This past week I have had bronchitis…still have it.Continue reading “Longest semester ever.”

The Call: Podcasts in Teaching

Just as I dropped my daughter off at dance class this morning, I heard the beginning of This American Life. I rarely feel compelled to listen to an entire podcast episode, (of any podcast), often listening a bit and then reading the transcript if I want to finish the story. It is more efficient andContinue reading “The Call: Podcasts in Teaching”