Society
Yellow Curbs
I have a fixation with yellow curbs. More precisely, I have a fixation with nicely painted yellow curbs and parking lots with freshly painted lines. As silly as it sounds, the look of curbs matter. A freshly painted yellow curb delineates the sidewalk from the street—it matters because safety is...
On the Importance of Travel
For many families, summer is the time when the car is packed, coolers are filled with sandwiches and drinks, and the entire clan squeezes into the vehicle to travel. In this part of the country, many families travel west to see Mt. Rushmore, the Rockies, Yellowstone Park or the Pacific...
Wanderlust and the Millennial Generation
“Not all who wander are lost.” - J.R. R. Tolkien Not all who wander are lost is a phrase taken from a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien in the fantasy trilogy Lord of the Rings. I believe that it also happens to be an appropriate description for the current generation we know...
All Day Today
The world recently lost a good man. His name is Rev. Kenneth Bailey, Th.D. Dr. Bailey was a Professor of New Testament. He spent most of his career in the Middle East. He taught at the Near Eastern School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon, and had a peculiar lens through...
The Virtue of Hard Things
“The Virtue of Hard Things” is a title taken from a recent Wall Street Journal review of the book Grit, by Angela Duckworth (May 4, 2016). Duckworth is a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and has spent the past decade studying why some people have extraordinary success and...
A Letter to My Children About Student Debt
Originally Published by the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, May 15th, 2015 Before I became President, I was the new Dean of our theological seminary. One of the first students I met was a graduate who was groaning about his student debt. After I listened to him talk about his situation I...
Spending Time in Sorrow’s Kitchen
There is a phrase we use at the University of Dubuque that helps new employees better internalize our Mission: “You don’t completely understand our work together unless you’ve spent time in sorrow’s kitchen.” Spending time in sorrow’s kitchen means that hardship and heartache can change us for the good. Parents...
Breaking the Silence of the Night
On April 4, 1967—forty-nine years ago—Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed an audience at the Riverside Church in New York City. The title of the address was “Beyond Vietnam” which can be found in a collection of King’s speeches entitled A Call to Conscience edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard....
An Empowerment-Oriented Spirit
I conducted an experiment during my senior year of college titled The Effects of Positive and Negative Feedback on a Select Population of Group Home Residents. While I was going to school, I worked at a home for at-risk adolescents. These children came from all walks of life: from a...
Accountability
ac-count-a-ble (1) required or expected to justify actions or decisions; responsible: government must be accountable to its citizens. See note at re-sponsible. ac-count-a-bil-i-ty/n. It is impossible to lead other people without internalizing the virtue of accountability. Of...
