On April 9, Jodi Dean published a blog post “Palestine speaks for everyone” for Verso Books in which she expresses support for Palestinian resistance. She has since been removed from teaching responsibilities (temporarily, until the end of term) by her employer, Hobart and William Smith Colleges. I took special interest in this news because I’ve been influenced by Dean’s scholarship on solidarity. Her definition is a foundation for an article that Janet Jones and I recently published on … [Read more...]
On Gifts
I admit it: I love Christmas. Despite being a horrible crafter, I make holiday cards for family and friends. (See the feature image for proof.) I also have a stack of books I read during the holidays, including Connie Willis’ story collection A Lot Like Christmas and Christmas with Anne, which contains holiday-themed excerpts from L.M. Montgomery’s work. Many of the stories bear a message we oft hear at this time of year: It is the action of giving that is significant rather … [Read more...]
Forgiving as harm reduction
“You have to eat and keep going. Eating is a small, good thing in a time like this.” (Raymond Carver, A Small, Good Thing) Maybe reading is also a small, good thing? I am finally back in the swing of reading for pleasure and, as a treat to myself, I re-read for the umpteenth time Raymond Carver’s short story, “A Small, Good Thing.” The story appears to be about a couple as they try to deal with the aftermath of their son being hit by a car. But I think the story is really about the human … [Read more...]
Happy holidays!
From the whole "At Home with Arendt" team, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! There will be no new posts for the last couple of weeks in December, but we will be back in full force in January. Stay tuned! Photo by Nicolas Thomas on Unsplash … [Read more...]
Goodbye, with gratitude
This post is a goodbye and a statement of gratitude for my friend Jesse Lambert, who died on December 22. Gratitude at year's end I took a break from blogging about philosophy last New Year's to say goodbye to my rat Gabrielle, who passed away in December 2017. Though the post was mostly a collection of happy memories about Gabi, it also was an expression of a philosophical tension I have been trying to work through: how to acknowledge my gratitude for the emotional labour companion animals … [Read more...]