-
-
-
-
-
On being from Canada (and not India)
Stan Rogers. Picture taken originally from Toronto.com, used under fair use. The great Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers – taken from us far too soon at a mere 33 – has inspired me in many ways. I first encountered him through his modern (and very Canadian) sea chantey “Barrett’s Privateers“, a staple of folk singers…
-
-
Should Fraternities be Banned?
As a college student and professor, I am familiar with the unfortunate pattern of the Greek system on American campuses. Something awful will happen involving a fraternity or sorority, such as sexual assault, racist stuff, or a hazing death. Then there will be a backlash and calls for banning fraternities (and sometimes sororities). Administrative action…
-
-
Do Not Spare Yourself
The only thing more dangerous than wanting to save another person — a dangerous desire too often mistaken for love — is wanting to save yourself, to spare yourself the disappointment and heartbreak and loss inseparable from being a creature with hopes and longings constantly colliding with reality, with the indifference of time and chance,…
-
The Art of Dignity Beyond Pride: How to Move Through Heartbreak Like Frida Kahlo
“Life will break you,” Louise Erdrich wrote in her exquisite insistence that “you are here to risk your heart.” The price we pay for the risk is the great equalizer of humanity. In heartbreak, everyone is shorn of dignity, everyone follows the same pattern of self-prostration: the willful blindness to the first signs of being…
