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.

The sensible pursuit of class goals

Posted on November 26, 2017 by hessd

What is a “class goal?” When I was in high school, one of the traditions was to collect money so that the graduating senior class could give a gift to the school. We did the same thing in college. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Political Psychology, Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s a PG sort of coffee shop

Posted on November 21, 2017 by hessd

In Sam Raimi’s film, For the Love of the Game, he sets up a scene in an airport bar. An insensitive boor begins regaling the woman on the barstool next to him with his extensive knowledge of the Yankees. [1] … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Old, Living My Life, Society, Theology | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I was “only joking”

Posted on November 15, 2017 by hessd

The serious work to be done in this essay is a consideration of what the word “only” contributes to the expression, “I was only joking.” This is something that might be said by someone who has just been reproved for … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

We are running out of umpires

Posted on November 13, 2017 by hessd

I first ran into what Rush Limbaugh calls “trans-partisan authorities” in the form of “trans-racial authorities.” In was in the late 1960s and a very angry black man was telling me how things really were. He said that segregation was … Continue reading →

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A Better World

Posted on November 4, 2017 by hessd

Jean Paul Sartre published Being and Nothingness in 1943. I was five years old, so I missed most of the early discussions, but as I came to understand it, Sartre argues that life has no intrinsic meaning at all and … Continue reading →

Posted in A life of faith, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Marriage Covenant

Posted on November 1, 2017 by hessd

We call it a “marriage covenant” without thinking much about it. A covenant is a “coming together,” certainly; every way of parsing the word must note com = “together” and venire = “to come.” But we “come together” in so … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Old, Love and Marriage, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

And don’t forget to put the milk in the icebox

Posted on October 25, 2017 by hessd

One of my favorite slogans is “Rising Above Decline” I first ran into it in a study of what to do with excess school space in Boston and they meant simply that the school age population was decreasing, so the … Continue reading →

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“We don’t get no respect!”

Posted on October 22, 2017 by hessd

Martin E. P. Seligman surprised a lot of people when he predicted the standings in the next year’s baseball season from a content analysis of comments made by the management and the players about the season just finished. Like me, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Political Psychology, Sustainability, ways of knowing, Words | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Halloween

Posted on October 20, 2017 by hessd

I just don’t get Halloween. Not as a big deal celebration. I get a few things. I get the language underpinning of it. I know, for instance, that the -een of Halloween is properly “e’en.” In the Scottish version of … Continue reading →

Posted in A life of faith, Living My Life, ways of knowing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Stronger. Also wiser.

Posted on October 17, 2017 by hessd

In Stronger, Jeff Bauman, played superbly by Jake Gyllenhaal, learns a really hard lesson. It isn’t all that easy to say what it is, but at the very core, it involves being willing to be who people need for you … Continue reading →

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