Making the most of college (fifth annual)

It seems, at first, as if the broken stones are meaningless. Look closer. Can we say something of value? Notice, here, the way the practiced chisel marks suggest the bones and careful study of anatomy. What of their metal skills? To craft a blade equipped to chisel marble implies trade and special talents. Blacksmiths. Some […]

I have my students read Calvin Seerveld, and I make them take off their shoes in class because, really: when we study God's world—the tiny creatures under our microscopes, the vast galaxies within which our sun and planet whirl, the ways of men and women selling and buying in markets, the making of love and war and law and sausages—we are in the very presence of God.

Reggie Miller's buzzer-beaters were thrilling and memorable. Less exciting: the slow, repetitive training he and we go through to thrive at the right times: at the free-throw line or in class.

Vocations of all sorts are equally important to the work of God in the world, as each one contributes to the common good, to what it is that makes our common welfare a place for more rather than less flourishing. In the life of Dave Kiersznowski and his DEMDACO Corporation, I see this become flesh in his business and life commitments.

The Northwoods, Wisconsin I’m sitting here tonight with these alums and one wise colleague, and allegedly we’ll solve big problems in this little room. Or else we’ll be confused together, maybe, and that’s ok— difficult blossoming needs honesty, mainly. And don’t forget, that’s how it felt then, too, however many years ago, days when you […]

"Suppose," the Gospel says, "one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'" Darn good advice.

When you are sixty-five years old, going back to school is both formidable and frightening. Here's my advice for those who, like me, are returning to school later in life.

“Who cares?” I said, if you’re an antique hand That stroked the keys of some mechanical Machine, whose lettered fingers often jammed In haste; a weakness anatomical. The wrinkled paper, correction fluid, The bell at line’s end; clickity-clack keys, Whiz bang—the carriage return—not quiet Or quite the height of technological ease! And so, our future: […]

There was a prolonged period recently when the words "traditional" and "craftsy" were the kiss of death for an artist's career. One result is that in the past several decades, artists of every discipline have been trained with the primary expectation that they shall produce new and sometimes shocking objects; choreograph daring dance movements; compose provocative musical pieces or poems—and in many cases, skill has been moved to the margins or completely off-stage. But in recent decades the centrality of novelty and the demand for an art centred primarily on ideas and issues has lessened a bit—a pendulum swing away from experimentalism.

A Comment symposium on academic-borne friendships that beat the odds.

Great leaders are driven not for their own success, but by a sense of purpose for their organization and the people in it. And they possess an all-too-rare humility.

Have I done the work I was made for?