Category Archives: Uncategorized
Notebook System Update
While there are a few consistencies in my paper notebook practice, the notebooks I use and the ways in which I use them are always evolving. One consistency I’ve found over years of experimentation is that ring-bound and disc-bound systems … Continue reading
Words or Actions?
The question—words or actions?—is a false choice. Change can and does emerge through dialogue, debate, deliberation, diplomacy, and other modes of talk, but language is not enough on its own. Power can be exercised—and opposed—through direct action, such as described … Continue reading
When Disagreement Is Inclusive
When I say that I’m interested in disagreement, my interest is not in bridging the biggest gulfs that might come to mind—of getting “both sides” together to talk. Rather, I’m interested in how our disagreements go: the disagreements within a … Continue reading
Some Ways of Measuring Quality of Conversation
There are many ways to consider how well a discourse community handles disagreement, including the following: To even begin to consider these questions requires more self-awareness than is often available, especially within a setting of hierarchical power relations. And all … Continue reading
Begging Off The Question By Changing It
It seems at times that people will do anything they can to avoid engaging in an extended back-and-forth conversation. Obviously we all would like to frame our positions in the most favorable light, but when we go beyond framing to … Continue reading
Lighting A Lamp And Cursing The Darkness
Religion Professor Stephen Prothero’s essay on the place of religion in politics exemplifies the muddled terminology that often accompanies state-church separation discussions that I consider in my research. Prothero’s argument also interests me for another reason. In advocating for the … Continue reading
From the Rostra 