Category Archives: current events

What We Have Lost: Our Stories Make Us One

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Boz

“Thanksgiving lessons jettison pilgrim hats, welcome truth” This headline from the Associated Press exploded inside my skull when I saw it three days ago, and in the dust that settled, I read an important lesson about what has been lost as … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, current events, divisiveness, education, freedom, history, language, literature, narrative, politics, story | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dostoevsky in Beulah Land

Posted on November 8, 2020 by Boz

Despite the glorious, almost too-warm temperatures for a day six weeks into autumn, I took off for my late-morning walk with a heavy heart. I was depressed, outraged, and frightened over lost hopes for a return to American values, a … Continue reading →

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COVID Masks and Comma Splices

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Boz

For me, the cruelest part of the COVID-19 pandemic has been its stultifying and probably irremediable effects on education at all levels. Exactly at the middle of the spring 2020 semester, all our classes were switched to online-only instruction. I … Continue reading →

Posted in COVID-19, current events, education, novel coronavirus | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

My #WalkAway Story

Posted on October 24, 2020 by Boz

As I write, the Presidential election of 2020 is ten days away. I agree with those on both sides of the aisle that it is the most important election at least in my lifetime (which is long); I will not, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill of Rights, critical thinking, current events, divisiveness, education, First Amendment, free speech, freedom, history, politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Everything Not Forbidden Is Compulsory

Posted on August 26, 2020 by Boz

When I first passed this sign yesterday morning on the way to class, I thought it was an instruction in etiquette: “Don’t sit here because this is a table, and sitting on tables is rude.” Silly me.

Posted in Bill of Rights, books, COVID-19, critical thinking, current events, divisiveness, education, First Amendment, free speech, freedom, history, language, literature, news, novel coronavirus, politics, society, totalitarianism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Common Cup

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Boz

This post has been germinating almost as long as we–human beings, Americans, North Carolinians, Christians, Episcopalians–have been altering the patterns of our lives and our relationships with one another and with God in response to the novel coronavirus. Other preoccupations, … Continue reading →

Posted in church, current events, Easter, faith, Lent, religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The First Casualty?

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Boz

The question mark in my title was well and thoroughly considered. I actually have no idea which was the first of the constantly rising number of casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. But I am aware of many. And no, my title … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill of Rights, critical thinking, current events, etymology, First Amendment, free speech, freedom, nature, news, politics, religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sloganeering: Fake Language Is the Problem–Not Fake News

Posted on October 27, 2018 by Boz

I have not posted anything on my blog since September 21–over a month ago, my longest dry spell since I began it in May of 2016. Significantly, this hiatus coincides quite neatly with the weeks that have elapsed since the … Continue reading →

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Grammar, Meet God

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Boz

Although I care deeply about language and am passionately interested in its origins and characteristics, I have no claims as a linguist. Therefore, what follows comes more from my heart than my head–mostly emotion tempered with a bit of knowledge … Continue reading →

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Dear Jay and Gina: An Open Letter

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Boz

The five “increasingly savage paragraphs” of this obituary were published in the Redwood Falls [MN] Gazette on June 4. That same day, Stu @RandBallsStu posted it on Twitter. By the time I heard about it three days later on All Things Considered, it had … Continue reading →

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