Parts of Speaking Publishing

This is what I have been trying to say, less well.  It was posted by the former president of "my" college, where I taught 21 years.  Worth a read and some methodical reflection. The best comments I have read on the subject Written by James Bell I’ve waited to speak about the recent tradegy surrounding ICE, the protests, and the killings because as a pastor, it feels like there is a new moral outrage demanding immediate commentary almost every week. But immediate reaction is rarely the same thing as wisdom. So I have taken time to read, to listen to people I disagree with, and to think. And what I feel most is not just anger. It is sorrow. The Hebrew word for justice is mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט). Mishpat is uncomfortable in polarized cultures because it refuses to fully side with anyone. It critiques the right when authority crushes mercy. It critiques the left when compassion ignores responsibility. Justice answers to God, not to movements And mishpat is exactly what we are strugg...

  ‘ O look, look in the mirror, O look in your distress: Life remains a blessing Although you cannot bless. ‘ O stand, stand at the window As the tears scald and start; You shall love your crooked neighbour With your crooked heart.’ — W. H. Auden A (sort of) Christmas Poem six weeks late. But it's by Wendell Berry, and I think I like his poetry better than his fiction. This one is "Sabbaths." Remembering that it happened once, We cannot turn away the thought, As we go out, cold, to our barns Toward the long night’s end, that we Ourselves are living in the world It happened in when it first happened, That we ourselves, opening a stall (A latch thrown open countless times Before), might find them breathing there, Foreknown: the Child bedded in straw, The mother kneeling over Him, The husband standing in belief He scarcely can believe, in light That lights them from no source we see, An April morning’s light, the air Around them joyful as a ch...

 I was directed to the All Poetry site to read a poem by Philip Larkin, " Church Going. " I was studying the poem and started to read the "Analysis" pasted below it on this site. As I waded it through its bullet points (how does one analyze a poem with bullet points?) I thought, this reads like even more pretentious than usual AI. I pulled back up to the start, but there was an easy-to-miss (ai) after the word "Analysis." For shame. I am sure the poet would be enraged to know that we are being led to understand his poem through what an algorithm collects and inflicts on us.  AI sure knows its abstract language and poetic-ese, though. I am spooked by the experience of a machine explaining this poem, which I found thoughtful, to me. The sense of personal betrayal cuts deep. 

  At the risk of copyright infringement, I am reposting this newsletter article from the Chronicle of Higher Education.  I have been to UT-Austin and enjoyed its scholarship on teaching and learning. This news is baffling, although I've heard of such from other large institutions.  If you are a college or university instructor, please respond to Dr. McMurtrie.  I worked in this field for many years--not at the level Josh Eyler, etc, do, but in my own little way--and this is not good news for higher education.  I used to keep up a blog called Higher Education Observer (link https://highereducationobserver.blogspot.com/ :  ) and posted many articles on this subject.  What is a teaching center for? Last week I  reported  on the impending closure of the University of Texas at Austin’s teaching center. The news, announced in an email by the provost, was short on details, but described the decision as part of an effort to “optimize” and “streamline...

I am studying Ephesians right now, very slowly, and I'm glad to hear N.T. Wright has a new book out about it. However, I find his style repetitive and wordy. So be it. He gives another kingdom view of the New Testament.   I came to Ephesians 2:4 today: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us..." The preceding verses chronicle our state before conversion and really, before the cross.  Here is the interlinear version: The phrase "But God" appears a great deal in the Bible, so here are some. The thought "But God" appears more.  From Joseph's life: Genesis 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying,  but   God  will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me;  but   God  meant it for good, in order to bring it about as  it is  this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:24 And Joseph said to his brethren,...

 I just learned of the poet James Wright (sorry, the literary world is so expansive that we all have holes of knowledge) and this quote about being criticized as "glib." "My family background is partly Irish, and this means many things, but linguistically it means that it is too easy for me to talk sometimes. I keep thinking of Horace's idea which Byron so very accurately expressed in a letter . . . 'Easy writing is damned hard reading. ' I suffer from glibness. . . . I have [to struggle] to strip my poems down." 'Easy writing is damned hard reading. ' Yes, I need that today. I wrote a short story for my writers group in one setting, typed it up with some edits, and submitted it for the bi-weekly meeting. They liked the idea . . . but I could tell on the re-reading that it was "easy writing," too effortless, too fast, too full of myself. The idea was one I wanted to get on paper without paying attention enough to the execution.  It'...