Arbitrary Marks

As I write this, the number one emailed article on NYTimes.com is “Hopes for a Renaissance After Exodus in St. Louis.” Reading this story was bittersweet for me, as I realized just how much I’ve grown to love the city, and how short a time I have left here.

Second in my series “A Long Overdue Essay”, this post discusses the work of Ursula Goodenough and the role of evolutionary biology in my belief system.

If the conclusion to my religious studies series is too dry for you on the weekend, then take a listen to this podcast. It’s my first effort in putting something together like this on Arbitrary Marks. I’m not such a good extemporaneous speaker, but I can read my writing out loud.
Below is a [...]

If you win a silver medal these days you must submit your body for verification. Santhi Soudarajan, breathless from running 800 meters, wraps herself in a sterile paper gown and waits. The verdict comes, after gynecological exams, endocrine samples and DNA tests.
“You are not a woman,” the judges conclude, “Santhi, you have too [...]

One more thought for the evening, which I think connects with my earlier post, but is more plainly stated. I’ve encountered times recently in which my words, which I’ve thought were sincere, kind, and honest, were interpreted as double-speak, malicious and duplicitious. No amount of further sincerity or politeness (these were written forums, [...]

I didn’t take pictures of the speakers at the AAR, but I shot one photograph that I found amusing (still do). It’s a snapshot of the Starbucks line in the Washington DC Convention Center on Sunday, November 19th. For many, this was their first morning in town, and everyone needed their java…the line [...]

On this foggy St. Louis morning I voted in the 2006 mid-term elections.  My polling place is within a stone’s throw of my home, so I was there early, around 7:15 am.  There was no line–either of voters or electioneers–although a few signs for and against propositions and candidates littered the grass.  I had brought [...]

Note: I began this post shortly after some controversy which involved a blogger leaving one religion for another. The controversy did not (in my opinion) center around the shift, but it started me reflecting upon these kinds of transitions and how they can be handled. Below are my thoughts, which aren’t to be [...]

This post is Part 1 because I won’t be defending my thesis until tomorrow.  However, my brain decided that I needed a dry run last night between 2 and 3 am.  In addition to my actual thesis committee, comprised of Berit Brogaard, John McGinnis, Robert Northcott, and Theodore Vitali, seated at a long conference table [...]

What is the cost of our religious (and ‘merely’ human) beliefs?  Recently I’ve been compiling applications for graduate schools, which require fees for the application itself, a cost for the GRE, a cost for each transcript (from the three schools I’ve attended), and so on.  The total isn’t staggering, but it’s a good chunk.  My [...]