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Books

The case for the nation

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The book opens with this quote:

Nations reel and stagger on their way; they
make hideous mistakes; the commit frightful
wrongs; they do great and beautiful things.
And shall we not best guide humanity by
telling the truth about all this, so far as the
truth is ascertainable?

—W.E.B. Dubois,
The Propaganda of History, 1935

If I had a class right now, I’d like to argue over this quote from scholar Yael Tamir:

“The liberal tradition, with its respect for personal autonomy, reflection, and choice, and the national tradition, with is emphasis on belonging, loyalty, and solidarity, although generally seen as mutually exclusive, can indeed accommodate one another.” p.130

The second to last paragraph of the book is money, too:

“In a world made up of nations, there is no more powerful way to fight the forces of prejudice, intolerance, and injustice than by a dedication to equality, citizenship, and equal rights, as guaranteed by a nation of laws.” p. 137

Walking

Tuesday Primary Source

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On Friday, one of my brilliant students noted that were living a primary source document. Of course I had to turn this into an assignment so I had to do the same thing. Below are my notes and observations from a six-mile walk around the city at 6:00 AM this morning.

The South Street Bridge had what appeared to be about a third of the usual traffic. I was struck by the two groups I saw on the walk: one, construction jobs seemed to have continued. Many workers passed me and the job sites in West Philly and Center City were all buzzing with activity. Two, the steady stream of medical professionals on the bridge was less surprising.

Both of those groups have obvious uniforms. Apart from a handful of joggers — impressive in the rain — few other people were on the road.
Both Penn and Drexel’s campuses were empty. No one on Locust Walk except the facilities folks who were mulching the trees. On both campuses, it felt like every single facilities person was hard at work, which I tend to see more of around graduation time.
It’s still too early for the Magnolia Blossoms.