eclipse epilogue
Like a lot of people, I’m trying to make sense of the eclipse. I understand the orbits and the geometry, and I knew there would be significance and novelty. But I wasn’t fully aware of…
eclipsing science
When I was six years old, the path of a total solar eclipse’s shadow ribboned across my home, my hometown, and my elementary school. It’s stored in that dreamlike haze of longterm memory, but I…
on the march
It’s a funny thing, a “march” is. Where are you going, after all, and what do you do when you get there? A march, as we think of it nowadays, is never with the aim…
to learn, faster or slower
I teach a class where we start with a discussion about our definitions of the verb, “to learn.” I like this for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that…
a call for art
I know I’m not alone in feeling overwhelmed and urgent. There are refugees and crises and rights and marches; there are proclamations and orders and lawsuits and commentators on the Sunday mornings. My feeds are…
Making Science
I was asked to write an introduction to some of our state’s science materials. I was supposed to craft a description of the essence of all science in one page. Of course, that’s impossible. So…
ode to students
It’s 7:30 AM on the Monday of finals week*, deep into the month of December. It isn’t yet light outside, and probably would seem even more dark except for the fact that there’s 8 inches…
end-of-semester teaching and redemption
I suppose this happens every year, but it feels more ridiculous each time. Although it’s not a true disaster, as I face the plunge into the final week of coursework I tell people that my…
grace remembering
Walking across campus, 14-year-old Grace had a moment of recognition as we passed by the short, steel posts that prevent traffic from heading down pedestrian paths. “That’s where we would get our clues.” It took…