Category Archives: ways of knowing

Do Women Talk more than Men?

Posted on July 24, 2014 by hessd

It is my goal in this essay is to argue that that is a silly question and to say why. If you are the one who is asking a question, it is tough, sometimes, when the response comes in the form … Continue reading →

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The Perils of Personhood

Posted on July 22, 2014 by hessd

Through our long and largely successful run as a species, we  have had to ask and answer a lot of questions.  We have not been asked to formulate and answer some questions that are coming to seem fundamental.  Obviously, I … Continue reading →

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Lust! Oh my!

Posted on July 18, 2014 by hessd

Marcel LeJeune seems to have the particular ministry of talking about sexual dilemmas to young hormone-addled Catholics.  Some days, that must feel like being the geek at the carnival, the guy who astounds the crowds by biting the heads off … Continue reading →

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Are the people of Feathertown, Tennessee, Idiotēs?

Posted on June 1, 2014 by hessd

I think so.  I am going to offer some information about Feathertown from Barbara Kingsolver, who invented it and described it in her marvelous novel, Flight Behavior.  She has set a major dilemma in Feathertown: what to do about the … Continue reading →

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Speak softly and carry on with your shtick

Posted on April 20, 2014 by hessd

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) lectured Secretary of State John Kerry recently on the Obama administration’s conduct of foreign policy.  One of McCain’s heroes, he said, is President Theodore Roosevelt, who is identified with the maxim, “Speak softly and carry a … Continue reading →

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Being nice to Siri

Posted on March 18, 2014 by hessd

Siri, would you set an alarm for 3:30 please? Siri, set an alarm for 3:30. Damn it, Siri, I told you to set an alarm for 3:30 As you know, “Siri” is a “personal voice search assistant.”  She (Siri has … Continue reading →

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Permanent Love

Posted on March 14, 2014 by hessd

I grew up hearing my mother tell a causal attribution joke.  That isn’t what she called it, but that’s what it is and that’s why I telling you about it.  As she was growing up, both “bums” and “limburger cheese” … Continue reading →

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Sex, Coffee, and the Law

Posted on March 8, 2014 by hessd

I’m not kidding about the Law, but it isn’t the law you were thinking of.  “In a short, sheer, baby-doll negligee and coordinated pink panties, Candice Law is dressed to work at a drive-through espresso stand in Tukwila, and she … Continue reading →

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Playing Cards: The Death of Dialogue

Posted on March 7, 2014 by hessd

“Playing cards” was not an activity in the little town where I grew up.  It was an object.  “Playing cards” referred to what you used when you played poker and other devious games.  “Playing cards” is an activity for people … Continue reading →

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Orthopathy. Really.

Posted on February 11, 2014 by hessd

On November 16, 2008, Jason Walter, a first year student at the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies, led a discussion on Louis Berkhof’s Summary of Christian Doctrine.  I had never heard of Jason or of the Institute of Reformed Baptist … Continue reading →

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