Monthly Archives: February 2012

Blogging vs. Academia

I have been blogging for nearly a year now.  I wrote my first real blog post on Feb. 26, 2011.  Since then, I’ve tried to write about once a week, sometimes coming closer to that goal and sometimes less so.  In the last year, I’ve also been reading other people’s blogs much more than I […]

Hipsters and the death of sincerity

My fiancée and I went out to eat at the Friendly Toast in Cambridge, MA, recently.  While there, we were talking, of course, about hipsters.  (For those of you who have never been to the Friendly Toast, it both serves tasty, innovative food and is swarming with hipsters.)  Specifically, we talked about hipsters and irony, […]

Competition vs. Conflict

In another Parker Palmer-inspired post, I’d like to talk about a distinction Palmer draws in his book, The Courage to Teach.  While discussing the process of learning in community, Palmer draws a distinction between competition and conflict.  He writes, “Competition is a secretive, zero-sum game played by individuals for private gain; conflict is open and […]

A Relational Model of Truth

I was reading Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach recently.  In it, he presents what he calls a relational model of truth, which he contrasts with an “objectivist” and a relativist view of truth.  I thought it worth repeating here, because I think it is a good example of how modernity, postmodernity, and what-comes-next […]