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.

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

And how are we feeling today?

Posted on July 18, 2011 by hessd

The question I want to ask today is this: “How do you know how you are feeling?” But as I was thinking about it, a scene came to mind. I don’t know what it’s a scene from. Maybe the scene … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

One -cize Fits All

Posted on July 16, 2011 by hessd

As a regular part of our reading and listening and speaking, we blow by the most amazing caches of information. As a practical matter, we would all agree that the price of attending to this is that we are forced … Continue reading →

Posted in Saturday Evening Post | Leave a comment