Teaching is Authoritarian
Why I no longer teach like I'm "just asking questions"
Some Matters of Opinion
Place-based education, ditching your smartphone isn't enough, and some new/old writing about Nebraska
Why I Am Not Going to Use AI
It's not critical thinking just because you say it is
Epitaph for a Blue Plastic Dinosaur
A story about homesickness and our relationship to objects
Notes on Teaching Outdoors, and What I Did with My Summer
On my students' outdoor activities, and mine
In Praise of the Blockquote
I, too, dislike them—but...
The Only Wealth is Woodchips
Tribute to a gardener's delight
Coon Creek
A small memory of the domestic wild
On Gribley's Mountain
How a children's book from 1959 taught me to love the wild
Lauds
A very short essay, after a poem by G.M. Hopkins
Seventeen Theses on Writing and Place
Reflections on the relationship between literature, place, and the modern world
New Initiatives at the Center for Needless Splendor
An unprofessional update
Niehardt and Me
Finding epic poetry and a sense of home on the Branson Strip
Calendars, Gardens, Conversation
Hear me talk about my book virtually or in person
My book is out today
Today I am the author of a published book. That I can now say that is a remarkable thing to me, and a gift. In other respects, of course, today is a routine...
Tend Your Own Garden
Twelve thoughts in defense of the apolitical
A New Garden
Taking stock of my limits in a new setting
Words TK
Lively words can never claim to be exhaustive
Writing is Membership
Notes on writing and friendship, and a book cover reveal
Cultivating Calm in the Garden of Language
Why frantic words tend to be empty