Topics of Discussion:

This is a blog about small parts of big pictures. I often think about liberty, justice, society, science, wilderness, nature, ecology, and the language we use to discuss them. I also sometimes stray onto other things that strike my fancy, like rocks. My essays are exploratory, not definitive–I reach conclusions, but only in a “sit down and have a conversation about it” way, not a “this is the absolute truth” way. When not posting essays, I post some photos and links to interesting things I’ve read.

I now update something like fortnightly, on account of having some other projects to work on. In the archives, you’ll see fairly regular Fridays and Tuesdays, and I may return to that sometime given the capacity.

Who Writes This, Anyway?

That would be me; I have studied history, linguistics, writing, social justice, and environmental issues, and I consider myself an amateur geologist. I run an academic writing center for a graduate school, and I spend my spare time exploring and mapping caves.

What’s in a Name?

“But apt the Mind or Fancie is to roave
Uncheckt, and of her roaving is no end;
Till warn’d, or by experience taught, she learne,
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and suttle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime Wisdom, what is more, is fume,
Or emptiness, or fond impertinence,
And renders us in things that most concerne
Unpractis’d, unprepar’d, and still to seek.”

-Milton, Paradise Lost

Comment Policy:

I welcome civil discussion in the comments, but I have no qualms whatsoever about deleting trolls, incoherent anger, rudeness, or anything that looks, to me, disingenuous. Consider yourself a guest on my front porch; please do engage in lively debate, but don’t make an ass of yourself or I will kick you out.