Right now I cannot tell which of these facets of the recent rulings about travel bans and immigration by the Supreme Court and the Trump administration is most disturbing: the “limited” application of the ban, the use of the term bona fide, the lack of adequate outcry by any group of people whose relationships were…
For the past few weeks I have not written blog posts or meatier items on Facebook. I reasoned that anything besides kittens and kids would gain little traction (after all, we do need some respite from The Donald) or was being covered elsewhere by people more articulate than I (or at least wearing pants suits). Further,…
In the mid-1980s, the AIDS epidemic prompted me to take the pulse of rooms for a different reason than I had as a pre-teen before I first came out or as a young adult when I first went out as a gay man. I had earlier tested spaces to decide if I could come out and…
You have served many, many freshman and sophomore students with warm, personal, and solid advice about their academic programs, just as you served many generations of English majors before your retirement. Advising is an essential, though usually unheralded, form of teaching. By continuing to advise students, you have continued to teach; and the College is…
Commit themselves to their own, each other’s, and the group’s well-being. An important mentor in my life used to talk about how essential it is for a leader to be able to think about a goal, the individuals in the group working toward it, and the group as a whole. Over the years I have…
Commit themselves to their own, each other’s, and the group’s well-being. Last week I saw James on Friday, having looked for him daily over the earlier part of the week. Just like the first time we met, James was wearing a cardboard sign hung by a string around his neck. It announced that he needs…
Commit themselves to their own, each other’s, and the group’s well-being. True: I cannot schedule a colonoscopy. I am apt to report that the challenge in doing this is the scheduling process itself, but I suspect that may not be the only reason. For the past several years I was reminded at my annual check-up…
Commit themselves to their own, each other’s, and the group’s well-being. Community is said to emerge when people engage in common practices, make decisions together, depend on one another, and commit themselves. I confess that it is this last word — themselves — that snags me most consistently in the definition. Perhaps a clue to…
Commit themselves to their own, each other’s, and the group’s well-being. This weekend I tried to remember the last time I promised to do something. I am not referring to showing up when I say I will or paying my bills. Both of those are promises of a sort, though I rarely call them…
One’s disturbed by stalled career, talking louder than the man he is with. Over coffee they lament their need to avoid the sad legless man. Their narrative calls unappreciated work “The cause of my pains.” One snaps his fingers — Was it the O of my mouth That brought his “Faggot!”? Or did my face…
Creating Community for Everyone 