Once More, With Feeling

Once More, With Feeling

Sign in Subscribe

About 36 academics make goofy faces / poses in a group photo

A Joyous May

It has been a hellauva month, my friends, but one full of a lot of joy - hosting the main meeting of my NSF TUnE-Bio Network online and in Boston, celebrating Simmons Commencement by handing out diplomas to smiling students, and talking with faculty on several campuses about learning and

Abstract image - perhaps a window or a door with panels? Dark shadows and rusty colors

On the Hidden and the Important

My good buddy Jim Lang always says that April is the cruelest month in higher ed, and each April that rolls around does nothing to prove him wrong. Hope you're doing ok out there, newsletter friends, whether you are in higher ed or not. BE THE SPARK - Thoughts

Frog on a green branch

Thoughts of Spring

Sending a newsletter in the evening on the last day of the month counts as making the deadline, right? Life has been busy on fronts both personal and professional – all the usual Simmons University programming including facilitating a Snafu Edu book club and hosting thought-provoking sessions by faculty colleagues

Hand outstretched with a flower crown on the wrist - background is a field adn she is wearing a red sweater

Announcing: My Next Book

A break from format to share some exciting news: I have signed a contract for my next book! They say you can't go home again, but I'm thrilled to be partnering for a second time with the wonderful Beacon Press. I love that they're

a small cabin in the middle of the forest

A Few Warm Thoughts for a Cold Month

This January has been long and snowy and busy here in New England – but I am sticking with my goal of posting monthly and so here are just a few warm thoughts on the last day of a cold month. I have big news to share in February, so stay

a-snow-covered-street-lined-with-houses-and-trees

A Winter's Moment of Stillness

I have always loved this part of winter, when the arrival of snow is still novel and a full of wonderment, when the semester winds down, when so many sparkly lights go up and candles are lit, when so many of us finally take a moment to pause and breathe.

Hourglass with blue sand on rocks

Time Ticks On... and On

Just like that, it is November again, it is the holidays again, it is the POD Network conference again. This November was particularly November-y in New England, all hazy clouds and foliage and a general atmosphere of moody pause between the adventures of summer and the tumult of the

wet-seaweed-lies-on-the-beach

Entangled

I've been writing for a long time about how human beings are ultrasocial, how we synchronize our thoughts and moods and goals, and how our experience of the world is intertwined. Partly for this reason, I'm always curious when certain words or concepts suddenly recur over

A rowboat is tethered in a lake at sunset

Meeting This Academic Year, Smartwatches and Stress, Our Idiosyncratic Minds

And thus the new academic year begins. For those mourning the end of summer, just remember that autumn dawning means our social media feeds will be filled with delights like these. BE THE SPARK - Thoughts on Teaching and Learning At long last, Karen Costa's new book An Educator&

Field of sunflowers at sunset

Peering into a New Year

And just like that, there is a crisp bite to the morning air, the shelves are starting to fill with marble notebooks and protractors, and movie trailers are leaning spooky. But yet heirloom tomatoes and fresh corn are peaking and every third email results in a vacation autoreply. I love

Many-paned windows looking out on a peaceful wooden scene

On Retreating

Creating time for connection and growth. July is a quiet time in educational development, as commencement is in the rearview mirror and the frenetic prep for the new academic year is still over the August horizon. I've been enjoying commuting less and reading more. I've also

Fresh beech leaf.

A New Beginning

(but still a lot of feeling) Greetings, previous Substack subscribers! Notes on the Move to Ghost I hope that you'll pardon the disruption of this migration to a new newsletter hosting service, but the content moderation crisis over at Substack grew too dismaying for me to stay. I&