Such Wonderful Things

Job Market

2008-11-15T10:14:00.001-08:00

The announcements for permanent jobs in my field have come in. It's a great year for someone interested in social/political philosophy and ethics. Not only were there more great positions than I could apply for, but a good number of them are near friends in family. Pennsylvania and New York turned out to be especially promising.

As David Schmidtz aptly said, it is amazing that we gotten to the point economically that we are able to have people teach and research full time. Despite all our troubles, we do have a remarkable amount of surplus capital built up.

(For what it's worth, I've been lecturing on Adam Smith. So I've got capital on the brain.)

Fall Weather

2008-11-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

It's finally beginning to feel like Fall in Riverside, CA. The weather has cooled down and we're all getting out our light jackets. There are even some leaves on the ground.

I expect that things are even better in most of the country. My Dad informs me that the trees are beginning to turn color back home. And of course all the great fall produce has come in. I bought some honey crisps a few weeks ago. Peaches and apples are in abundance.

Trade

2008-06-23T23:56:00.001-07:00

I spoke to my students a bit about trade today.

It is amazing sometimes how much we can take trade for granted. When my grandmother was a little girl, she got oranges once a year at Christmas. Of course, I live in the land of oranges. Still, I could get oranges anytime that I wanted them in Michigan. Similarly, I could get honey crisp apples as far south as Missouri.

Fresh Breeze

2008-06-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

It was hot this week in the semi-desert. In some ways, this made the evenings wonderful. As I lay in bed with my ceiling fan on, cool breezes would come in my windown giving me relief.

Maybe tonight I will lay outside in the deck chair and watch the wind rustle the leaves in the tall trees.

(Follow-up) No wind in the trees, but they are still beautiful. There is one tall tree with line green leaves that seem to shimmer when the breeze blows across them. It makes me want to put up an Aeolian harp.

Simple Foods

2008-06-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about simple foods?

There were things that I could not eat this week, for reasons I will not go into. But I was reduced to a diet of cold tofu, iced tea, juice, and fresh fruit.

The truth is, I love a complicated meal. Indian food with a melange of spices that I could not identify is fun. A rich pizza is satifying. I like rich deserts -- especially chocolate.

Still, there is nothing quite like the tang of a glass of chilled grapefruit juice. Or think about sitting out in the breeze in a cool day with a slice of bread and a slice of cheese. In the end, these things are the best. In part, it is because we eat them in times when we are hungry, and also when nobody has been running around trying to get things ready. Still, there is something about the directness of simple things that no amount of elaborate preparation can reproduce.

Hope

2008-06-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking lately about several things that I like to read.

The Chronicles of Narnia
The Silmarillion
Three Comic Strips: Mutts, Frazz, and Heart of the City
Dante's Paradisio
The Napoleon of Notting Hill

Any time I'm feeling down, I almost instinctively turn to one of these sources for reassurance.

It raises the question, why can these works of fiction provide hope more than any other writing that I have come across?

Heat

2008-05-19T23:27:00.000-07:00

Here in the Inland Empire, we get something I treasure -- dry heat.

Dry heat is wonderful. You can stand outside for a minute with your arms outstreched, soaking it in.* Then you can walk over and rest in the shade, preferably with a nice tall glass of iced water. Then, when the sun goes down, you can feel the cool night breezes.

(*Kids: I recommend doing this in short spurts, preferably with long-sleeved T-shirts and sunblock.)

Purity of Heart

2008-04-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

I was very happy this weekend, and it called my attention to something that I had not thought of before.

I was happy because it was Pascha (Easter). I am always happy on that day for many reasons. Today I thought a bit about other people, though. I wonder what it must be like to be Mrs. E or Mr. P? There lives are marked by generosity and love for others. It occurred to me that their joy on this night must be beyond anything that I could possibly understand.

Sometimes it is hard to believe that I get to be around people like them. But it seems to happen to me all the time, pretty much anywhere that I live. You would think that it would happen maybe once in a lifetime -- but it seems to me that it happens pretty much anywhere I go.

Deep Rains

2008-04-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

I live in an arid mountainous region, but occasionally we get deep rains. This year, the rainy season was filled with slow, steady rains. It was slow enough to avoid flooding and constant enough to fill our resevoirs.

Normally, our valley has a certain kind of rugged beauty. When it rains, it blossoms. The hills are normally brown. This year, they were a dark green mottled with boulders. I could look out my office window down a line full of trees at the green hills. Even the vacant lots were suddenly bursting with natural growth. Those of you who live in temperate climates can hardly imagine how beautiful a lot full of tall green weeds can seem.

Another amazing feature of the rainy seasons is that it improves our air quality. Between the wind and the rain, the smog was blown back, revealing tall snow-capped peaks.

I have always loved decidious forest more than any other climate. But the desert has its own beauty, and it is a great joy when we can see it at its finest.