Pete’s Dragon, Trigger Warnings, and Safe Spaces

I took my son to see the new Pete’s Dragon movie. (It was good.) It got me thinking about trigger warnings, but not in the way you might think. (Mild spoilers ahead.) Just before Pete’s parents die, his mom says something complimentary to him. Then, years later, the new mother-figure in the movie says almost […]

A Departure

Today I’m giving my last lecture(s) at Cal Poly Pomona. This summer I’ll move and in the fall I’ll be teaching at The Waterford School, a wonderful K-12 independent school in Utah. I’m delighted to be joining that community but also a bit sad about the departure. On Wednesday the department honored me at their […]

Peaceful Revolution

In a 1962 speech to the Alliance for Progress, John F. Kennedy declared, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted that line five years later in his speech to Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, in which he denounced the U.S. involvement in the war and […]