We understand the world around us best in story form. Therefore, it is not surprising that powerful stories can change how we understand ourselves. An entire field is devoted to using movies to help people. It’s called cinematherapy.

One of the best application of cinem...

Love cannot be disembodied even in its most sanctified forms, nor is it without sanctity even in its most fleshly. – Thomas Mann, Magic Mountain.

In these Neuromyth.com blogposts on Sex and the Commons, I have been exploring the relationship between the sad state of our...

In this three-part series, I wanted to reflect on the relationship between the erosion of our discourse on the Common Good and our most intimate personal interactions. As I indicated in the previous blog-post, while many factors may have played a role, identity politic...

Having just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing of 1969, the same summer as Woodstock, I am brought to wonder about the current state of our national discourse, as well as our more intimate personal interactions, and the possible relationship between th...

A nearby colleague, Phil Cary of Eastern University, in a recruitment video for his institution, said something powerful about a liberal arts education. “Your exposure to the liberal arts and sciences is foundational to your education, a sine qua non (that means you ar...

An old college chum sent me an article called “Storm Clouds over Tulsa," written by Jacob Howland at the end of April 2019. It got me thinking about the sad state of higher education in America, my own recent experience, and what the future might hold. As an old rock a...

To distract my toddler one morning when my wife was trying to get him into the car, I picked up the cardboard container from some wine coolers and told him we were playing “square ball.” I often find that my toddler’s agenda is quite different from mine, which should s...

Out Like a Lamb

Gore Vidal once said that since it is power, not sex, that is the true motor to human life, young people no longer swallow goldfish or pack phone booths. They kill themselves. As vast disparities in both wealth and power have emerged quite rapidly within...

The Ides of March

My father once told me he didn’t know how a boy became a man without the experience of combat. I’m sure he never wished that for me and, indeed, spent time as a campus minister speaking out in opposition to the Vietnam War. But while today’s 19-year ol...

Guest Blog. This essay was written by a recent student-friend, as he explores one of those areas by which we establish meaning in our lives, our self-ascribed identities. For my generation, this might have been best captured by the reflection on "What do you do?" from...