Author Archives: hessd

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About hessd

Here is all you need to know to follow this blog. I am an old man and I love to think about why we say the things we do. I've taught at the elementary, secondary, collegiate, and doctoral levels. I don't think one is easier than another. They are hard in different ways. I have taught political science for a long time and have practiced politics in and around the Oregon Legislature. I don't think one is easier than another. They are hard in different ways. You'll be seeing a lot about my favorite topics here. There will be religious reflections (I'm a Christian) and political reflections (I'm a Democrat) and a good deal of whimsy. I'm a dilettante.

Dr. Obama’s Bedside Manner Needs Work

Posted on August 4, 2011 by hessd

It occurred to me recently, that back in the bad old days of medicine when there was very little you could actually do for a patient, people understood their job to be “being with” the patient and making him or … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

America the Litigious

Posted on August 3, 2011 by hessd

This note recognizes the past, present, and likely future of Dr. Loren Fishman, a psychiatrist. The good doctor was driving along innocently one day when a taxi pulled in front of his car.  He swerved to avoid the taxi and … Continue reading →

Posted in Words | Leave a comment

Welcome, friends

Posted on August 2, 2011 by hessd

This isn’t a dazzlingly simple puzzle like the one Gandalf faced.  He thought he was confronted by a sign that said, “Speak, friend, and enter.”  No incantation in his capacious memory opened the doors.  What it actually said was, “Speak … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

The House of the Venerable and Inscrutable Colonel

Posted on July 30, 2011 by hessd

Really, It’s Just KFC In general terms, this post is just a celebration of Neal Stephenson’s mastery with words and the fun he has with thunderous incongruities.  I’m going to do that in two ways—both from The Diamond Age.[1] First, … Continue reading →

Posted in Saturday Evening Post | Tagged | 1 Comment

Debt Limit Chicken–And Worse

Posted on July 27, 2011 by hessd

July 27, 2011.  It is now less than a week until the United States of America tells the people who have loaned money to us that we were, after all, a bad risk.  The debt limit confrontation has been pictured … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

The Two Tournaments

Posted on July 27, 2011 by hessd

Today, I want to follow up the perspective on aging and dying that I called “rising above decline.”  As I promised, I will be using a tennis tournament to point to the differences that strike me. But first, a word … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Old | 4 Comments

Rising Above Decline

Posted on July 25, 2011 by hessd

Today, I want to think about dying and about not dying.  It’s pretty simple in a way, but I have quite a few posts I would like to write about getting old and about people who have written persuasively about … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Old | Leave a comment

Ten years later, you get hauled up before a committee

Posted on July 23, 2011 by hessd

I had been working with “posts” to my “blog” for a while before it occurred to me that a post I published on Saturday Evening was a Saturday Evening Post. You wouldn’t think it would have taken me that long, … Continue reading →

Posted in Saturday Evening Post | Leave a comment

Owning Less

Posted on July 21, 2011 by hessd

I own a lot of books and I own different ones for different reasons.  I’m going to have to get rid of nearly all of them soon and I find myself stumbling over how different those reasons are from each … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies, Getting Old, Theology | Leave a comment

Can we owe a debt of forgiveness?

Posted on July 20, 2011 by hessd

We are a credit-driven society.  We know all about debts.  You see something you want to buy, you give the merchant your credit card (thereby acquiring a debt) and when, eventually, the bill comes, you pay it, thus discharging the … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies | Leave a comment