Classroom to Capitol

I’m acutely aware of the juxtaposition of writing this post immediately following my post about not retreating into the private sphere.
Maybe it’s just denial, but I really don’t think that’s what I’m doing.
I know that I’ll never turn totally inward.

I do yoga.
I sometimes even curl up on the couch and read. Yes, it’s usually a book about human rights or climate change or sociology, but, still.
I understand the need to turn off our compassion and to console ourselves.

I can definitively say, now, almost 4 years after the university started its experiment with instruction that is part traditional classroom format and part-online, that, for teaching social policy, I totally love it.
I promise it’s not because scheduling class around my practice and my kids’ schedules is easier when we meet only 7 times/semester, instead of every week....

One of the parts of my teaching that I take most seriously is my obligation to create a ‘safe space’ in which my students can grapple with their professional ethics and the conflicts between these ethical standards and students’ own personal values and...