Archive for September, 2006
Running the Race (My speech given as Distinguished Faculty recipient)
Tuesday, September 12th, 2006I have had the honor of being named as the Hun School’s first recipient of a new Distinguished Faculty Endowed Chair. One of the prices is that, today, I had to give a speech at the first-ever Convocation. Since some people have asked, and since I have an ego the size of Montana, [...]
From 2001 October 7: I Want to Speak Now
Monday, September 11th, 20062001 October 7:
I want to speak now.
I have wanted to speak since September 11. The words would not come. The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was, almost literally, unthinkable. And language is the substrate of thought. Scholars have often claimed that what you cannot say, you cannot think. I have learned, [...]
And the Sky Swept Clear of Angels : 9/11, 5 Years, and Lost Worlds
Monday, September 11th, 2006Though exiled to the swamps of New Jersey, I am a native New Yorker; and so this date arrives every year like a punch in the gut. I no longer think of the attacks every day, but it took 18 months before that ceased. When I do think of them, I am immediately [...]
The Dignity of Labor
Monday, September 4th, 2006Today we celebrate Labor Day for approximately the 119th time. A teacher friend of mine calls Labor Day less a holiday than a stay of execution, especially since we begin in earnest the day after. And for years people have made the joke that we celebrate labor by taking a day off from [...]