Religion scholar Jean-Luc Marion writes about the saturated phenomenon, a facinating concept I'd know more about if I had the leisure to sit and read as my inclination takes me. Something about the notion of saturation in one's life appeals to me, though - the idea that life is rich and… Read full post »

It is recommendation letter season - I've got three to work on in the next week alone. They're usually kind of fun, since I've only gotten requests from great students or great colleagues - people I like and people I enjoy writing about. It's the ones you don't get asked to… Read full post »

My new semester started this week, and I'm teaching a philosophy class, which I love. Our first assignment was an essay by Bertrand Russell arguing that philosophy is valuable despite its lack of obvious, concrete application because it helps us identify and disregard the prejudices embedded in our c… Read full post »

Today it was about forty degrees and slushy and it turned out to be the perfect day for a nice long run. Earlier in the week during a fit of despair I finally got around to updating my iPod (small, concrete tasks being the ideal antidote for despair, and my other… Read full post »

On a parenting website I frequent, there was a thread recently dedicated to nice things one's partner has done that day. So stuff like "recharged my iPod because he knew it was getting low!" and "took the kids for an hour so I could run some errands by myself!" I read… Read full post »

Recently I read the term "Yoga Bitch" for the first time. In context, it seemed to mean a fit, upper-middle-class woman in her forties, causing a fuss of some kind in public while wearing yoga pants, presumably en route to yoga class or living a lifestyle wherein yoga pants may be… Read full post »

After almost 35 years of wandering the earth, more or less getting along with folks, I have found myself in the awkward position of having a First Nemesis. It's like first love! Only, not.

I confess: I hold hatred in my heart for the crossing guard at my children's elementary… Read full post »

A relative called the other day, one of my husband's cousins. She's about my age but we're not close; she annoys me with her small-town hair and her Christmas letters about how much she loves Jesus and her platitude-filled outlook on life. I would bet you money that she owns Precious… Read full post »

My son is five and a half. Lately he's been talking a lot about how people die. He wants to know what kind of injuries might kill a person,  whether various ordinary experiences would make him dead (I had to break it to him that touching a hot cookie on the… Read full post »

Last night I took my daughter to a community dance that was designed to get folks who don't usually spend time together gathered in one place dancing. It was a polka/salsa night, with some merengue thrown in there. I did not know what to expect.… Read full post »

Last Sunday was All Saints' Day at church, and at my church we did it up right. There was a jazz band, it was potluck Sunday and people brought extra food in the spirit of feasting and remembering and the mixture of joy and solemnity that comes with remembering the people… Read full post »

Recently I joined in a (virtual) conversation between employed spouses about the frustrating and complex issue of how it is humanly possible for our respective stay-at-home spouses to accomplish so little on any given day. We are busy juggling work and family obligations, trying to find time to get o… Read full post »

In further evidence that either the apocalypse is coming, or I'm in fact not 17 anymore, my mom was fine with the news that I got a tattoo. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Anxiety, I guess; my dad calls me every fall to lecture me about flu shots. They… Read full post »

Two years ago, I decided to start running. I was Not A Runner, had never been A Runner, and it took me a while to catch on to some of the nuances (like decent socks, warming up and cooling down, not dressing too warmly, and pacing myself.)

A year ago,… Read full post »

I spent two solid days this week reporting for jury duty, and all I have to show for it is a pervasive and shameful recurring thought: wow, at least I'm not that guy. Just so I'm clear, the rules about when you can and when you can't talk about jury duty are… Read full post »

This is homecoming weekend at the school where I teach. It's an interesting blend of events and folks and socializing and gossip. To wit: one of my favorite students, he of the ear gauges and kind of punk hair and lip ring, proudly hung out with his grandma this weekend, and… Read full post »

Once in a while, you get *that* day. People yell at you, or you discover some fresh, wretched mess has created itself overnight while you innocently slept, or you finally face the truth that's been lurking around your margins for weeks, or you get a dose of more healthy honesty than… Read full post »

Snuggled in with my little kid last night, I was reading a Star Wars book and suddenly had a moment with him, which happens sometimes. The book was a guide to Jedi Knights written for those who can read short books to themselves, which he can’t. So it was filled with… Read full post »

In one of my favorite novels, Pam Houston’s Sight Hound, a character reflects briefly on the similarities in emotional makeup of his mother and that of his new wife (both, shall we say, somewhat high-maintenance) and thinks (paraphrasing roughly) “Holy Moses, if I haven’t been in th/… Read full post »

Traditionally, when one of my children pitches a wild fit about something clothing-related, we call it "having getting-dressed issues." Today, for instance, my kid heard that his Spiderman socks, which he badly wanted to wear yesterday, were on the kitchen table, but when he rushed down to find them… Read full post »

So Good Colleague and I are working on a project, which happily enough requires research in cool coffee places, asking young, interesting urban people about their religious lives and how their personal choices re: media and style and culture influence their religious practices. I highly recommend all… Read full post »

Last week a colleague was complaining to me, good-naturedly, about how busy and overscheduled she felt.

"I know!" I said. "I'm teaching three new courses this fall [new courses being especially arduous], plus two directed studies [basically, another two classes]. And I have two conference papers to&… Read full post »

My front porch is a pretty one, nicely sized for the house, big enough for several chairs and a good range of hanging plants and an array of planters. White railing, white uprights with some slightly overdone gingerbread details. Our hanging plants alternate purple, white, purple, and the planters ar… Read full post »

Yesterday I had a phone conversation with my mom. Rarely does this take less than an hour; there is almost never urgent business to discuss. We speak a few times a week, and often the conversations are long narrations on her part of small-town life, mostly featuring people I don't know… Read full post »

In the five-minute window between the end of my directed study and the beginning of my 2:15 class today, I got a call from my kids' school. 

 Hello! the perky front desk lady said. Your son has had an accident! Please bring him a change of clothes.

 Um.... but, I thought.… Read full post »