Into the Tapestry My students and colleagues nominated me for a thing. And I am a little overwhelmed. A lot overwhelmed. The kinds of things they are saying about me sound like the kinds of things people said about my mom. And my dad. And my grandfather. To be placed in one’s ancestry like that… …
For the better part of a decade, John Cleese had a recurring role as the A.D. White Professor-at-large, at Cornell University. And, by “role”, I mean faculty gig. During that time he met David Dunning and became enamored with his research – as many of us have. As a communicator though, Cleese, is the antithesis …
Anne Lamott said “almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you.” So I am unplugging for the next week. At least, I am unplugging from email – and job stuff. But I know important email messages will find their way to my inbox during that time – though …
I’ve been making students do this for a few years and it is probably time I complete my own assignment. I 100% stole this (with permission) from Andy Gilbert. Each fall, I require new doctoral students to start generating lists of wonderments. Here are some of mine: I wonder how strong communities develop online, among …
Ascribing a name to something makes people feel that the object, so-named, is a real thing – and importantly thing-y in some way. I suppose I had noticed this phenomenon before, but something crystallized while I was sitting in a research presentation of an early career scholar a few years ago. I think she was …
A new school year is starting. Someone once told me the beginning of the school year was like a freight train. It is massive and has so much inertia that, when it comes by, you either have to jump on or get run over. I have actually come to see that analogy as being too …
So I have been thinking a lot about discipline. Not in the sense of punishment. Punishment is about an authoritative person or structure enforcing submission of someone who is subject to their power. There is probably a time and place for this type of discipline – such as in a functional accountability system – but …
Here is the thing about humility: it is not the same thing as self-deprecation. People (in my part of the world) often seem to think humility is about downplaying one’s own abilities or accomplishments. But that strikes me as ironically narcissistic. It is self-focused. To say ‘awe shucks, I’m not so great’ is still to …
Thoughtful text that is concise and accessible is a mark of persistence. No worthwhile creation is born fully-fledged. Complex physical movements are always performed clumsily before they become fluid: walking, running, riding a bike, throwing a ball, strumming a guitar, mincing an onion, hitting fifth position… No amount of natural ability in any of those …
I took my first chemistry course as a junior in high school (Grade 11). I think that was pretty common in the U.S. for most people in my generation. I guess chemistry was still an elective in most high schools in the early-90s. But it was an entrance requirement at most colleges by then – …