Monthly Archives: May 2013

Saving Normal

Posted on May 30, 2013 by hessd

Being “normal” is a little bit of a challenge.  There are several reasons why this is so.  One is that knowing what is “normal” is not always easy.  Then too, being “normal” is not always what one aspires to.  Also, … Continue reading →

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A Retirement that Sparkles

Posted on May 23, 2013 by hessd

I want to admit, right away before someone reminds me of it, that it is my own retirement I am thinking of.  I know that yours—the one you are currently experiencing or the one you are hoping to experience—will likely … Continue reading →

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Remembering Bonnie Zawacki, Part II

Posted on May 22, 2013 by hessd

In Part I, I passed along to you Bonnie Klein’s recollections of herself as a college student; Bonnie Zawacki, studying causal attribution with me at Westminster College.  The two of us—Bonnie and I—talked about building a new lens, a lens … Continue reading →

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Remembering Socrates

Posted on May 14, 2013 by hessd

“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates.  I don’t think I would go quite that far, myself.  I do think I would say that in most cases, the properly examined life is “better” than the alternatives.  This comes … Continue reading →

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Remembering Bonnie Zawacki

Posted on May 13, 2013 by hessd

Beyond any question, the most exciting project of my fifty years of teaching was helping students understand causal attribution.  “Causal attribution” is just giving a reason why something happened—it is attributing a cause to an event.  This has been on … Continue reading →

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Getting in Shape and Staying in Shape

Posted on May 9, 2013 by hessd

So here are a few dumb questions.  Do you have enough fuel?  Are you tall enough?  Do you really think she cares that much about you? I have no wish to pejorate—ordinarily, I would have said “minimize” or something, but … Continue reading →

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Why Social Services Fail

Posted on May 1, 2013 by hessd

It is a part of the malady of our time that we try to see everything as a question of having the necessary skills.  Somewhere in the middle of my grad school experience, at a time when everything seemed to … Continue reading →

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