Several of these blog entries are reflections of various aspects of the holocaust-studies tour. These essays are designed to provide the reader with specific information about various memorials and locations as well as a personal reflection of meaning associated with a location or feature of a memorial. Some blog entries will not be animated by the holocaust-studies tour.
Additionally, I recently completed a writing project overhauling a behavior and social sciences statistics textbook. Some selected sidebar essays that may be of interest to a more general audience have been extracted and placed in this section of the website.
Dr. Jennifer Frey speaks about Happiness and Human Flourishing at Asbury University
On Monday evening, October 10th, University of South Carolina Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Jennifer Frey, delivered an address to the Asbury community entitled, “Classical and Contemporary Views on Happiness” to a packed Kinlaw Board room. She presented a clear, passionate, and convincing argument for a rediscovery of a more traditional and communal understanding of what nurtures human flourishing and well-being, frequently and effortlessly weaving the thoughts and understandings of such luminary thinkers such as Aristotle, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, as well as many others into her argument. Following her talk, students in Asbury’s Studies in Virtue and Human Value
Filmmaker and Holocaust Survivor, Pierre Sauvage, to show documentary at Asbury
Pierre Sauvage will show his award-winning documentary, Weapons of the Spirit, on Asbury’s campus on Thursday, Oct, 20th. At the conclusion of the film, Pierre will field questions from the audience. Afterward, Pierre will be featured at a fireside chat with the AUHP students at Asbury guesthouse, Windsor Manor. Here is a brief description I wrote for to help our AUHP students understand the unique nature of this documentary: This film is not a typical holocaust documentary. It does situate itself within the larger holocaust story, but it gets particular – it dives deep into the specifics of the people
Dr. Jennifer Frey to Speak at Asbury
Classical and Contemporary Views on Happiness University of South Carolina philosopher, and featured Veritas Forum speaker, Dr. Jennifer Frey, will be visiting Asbury on the evening of Monday, October 10th. Her talk, to be held in the Kinlaw Board Room at 7pm, will be entitled, “Classical and Contemporary Views on Happiness.”
Misleading Intuitions
A reflection on 25 days with students in Germany and Poland One of the strongest intuitions of thought uncovered by psychological researchers has to do with the pairing of goodness and beauty. It is most readily detected when we encounter beautiful faces or scenery with the result being that we naturally feel that goodness must be there as well. The effect is so reliable that it has its own name, the “physical-attractiveness stereotype,” or more generally (albeit more awkwardly), the “what-is-beautiful-is-good” effect. And the flip side is also true. That is, when we find something to be good, our judgments
Treblinka and Warsaw
Ghost Tracks, Stones of Remembrance, and a Reborn City Looking Westward The second and last day of this trip extension saw Paul and Mary Blair join me for a tour of Treblinka, the death camp about 2 hours outside of Warsaw – where more than 800,000 people (mostly Jews) were exterminated by the Nazi Operation Reinhardt. I shall say no more. Here are some pictures: Then, we made our way to Warsaw and enjoyed a little taste of what this rebuilt city has to offer – a brief glance left me with the firm impression that it (and Poland), though
Lublin and Majdanek
A couple extra days of exploring in Poland I am able to spend a couple extra days in Poland with good friends Paul and Mary Blair. The first day was spent in Lublin, touring Majdanek, one of the death camps in Poland, and then exploring Lublin’s downtown. Here are some pics: Tomorrow we will make our way up to Warsaw. Treblinka will be toured.