Midterm report presentations

Select a topic related to the class date's assigned reading (on March 3 you can choose from the entire book). Indicate your preference in the comments space below. Plan to speak for at least ten minutes before opening the floor to discussion, give us a discussion question or two, and a suggested question for the exam.

FEB

3 Richard Ford, Be Mine -p.87. Midterm report presentation: ___

10 Richard Ford, Be Mine -172. Presentation: Ashley,

17 Richard Ford, Be Mine -266. Presentation: Amanda,

24 Richard Ford, Be Mine -342. Presentation(s): Markeem, Jalen

MAR

3 Exam. Select final report presentation topic & date. Presentation(s): ___

Tiny acorn, majestic oak, positive change

Speaking of Aristotle, as we were about to (in my CoPhi classes) before the ice so rudely interrupted us… 

The dogs and I took a hike at Stone's River Greenway yesterday and came across this memorial to the woman responsible for its existence.

Bertha Chrietzberg was a meliorist, like Aristotle and William James.

Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu

👣Solvitur ambulando

💭Sapere aude

“ Think how lucky we are”

Or were? Freedom of expression, the rule of Law, untrammeled public libraries, … All seem vulnerable in 2026

2018 Commencement - David McCullough

https://youtu.be/1kFZy2kpEL0?si=wbrdHbCLRgccwgtd

UPDATE: see you in class!

 We're still displaced by the ice storm and living out of suitcases, my wife and dogs and I. We may not get back in our home in Nashville for another week, they're saying.

But the good news is that we've temporarily relocated to an airbnb in Murfreesboro, 15 minutes from campus. 

So, I look forward to seeing you all in class tomorrow. We've got ground to make up, and we'll need to finalize the midterm report presentation schedule. 

It'll be nice to get back on track!

jpo

Murfreesboro/Rutherford county book bans

 Email the Rutherford County Library System Board of Directors and demand they stop the book bans, protect the Freedom to Read, and fund our libraries at the February 2025 meeting.

The Rutherford County Library System Board is proposing eliminating key “Freedom to Read,” Library Bill of Rights, and ALA Code of Ethics policies. By stripping the policies, the board is also paving the way to ban over 2,700 titles from their shelves, targeting materials that represent LGBT+, Black, brown, immigrant, and other marginalized identities and factual histories.

This is not about protecting children in Rutherford County – it's about erasing truth from history and eliminating identities from existence, thus paving the way for further attacks on civil liberties on our communities... https://act.aclu-tn.org/a/rucofeb

A World Full of Different Moral Compasses

MTSU student Sneh Gandhi has written a lovely Substack essay on the importance of civility and neighborliness. When times are challenging (due to threatening weather, bad health, whatever), it's important to be able to count on our neighbors--politics aside. Like it or not, after all, we're all human.

https://open.substack.com/pub/snehgandhi/p/a-world-full-of-different-moral-compasses?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

UPDATE

It's Day 7 for me and my family without power. Check "NEXT" on Tuesday before class for the latest update.
==
Wind chill below zero when I took the dogs out this morning. Robert Frost comes to mind...

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To know that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

I'm not really this pessimistic. But I'm ready for Spring. (Good news: pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in a couple of weeks!)