Author Archives: Chris Osmond

Lots of people are writing good remembrances of Charlie Watts. (Here’s one I really like.) But none of them are drummers, that I have found so far, and so none of them seems to get what matters most about what he did with his art. I am a drummer, and I do. And here itContinue reading “A Friendly Emptiness”

Today I use my small megaphone to amplify Nikole Hannah-Jones’ decision not to join the faculty of my doctoral alma mater, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is a shameful day to be a Tar Heel. Carolina’s loss is Howard’s gain. I hope for change in my state, and its flagship universityContinue reading “Didn’t Feel The Need”

The condemnation this weekend of a vile editorial about whether Dr. Jill Biden should retain her academic title when she becomes First Lady was gratifyingly swift, and its defense has been predictably toothless. It is not the first attack Dr. Biden has endured for her education commitments, and it certainly won’t be the last. MaybeContinue reading “the good doctor”

“Old Bob” was a horse that belonged to Blanford Barnard (“B.B.”) Dougherty, one of the founders of the school that became Appalachian State University, and its distinguished first president. This is “Old Bob” in 1920, led by John Adams, who “worked for the Dougherty family.” The accuracy of this photo is disputed, though. I amContinue reading “no better than its places”

The semester started three weeks ago, the calendar tells me. Like so many, I am only teaching online, for the foreseeable future. Last March, when we didn’t bring the students back from spring break, finishing the semester meant continuing to develop our already-existing relationships by other means. But now class is little squares on aContinue reading “Skating Well”

All over the country right now, teachers are being asked to work double and triple-hard. In response to widespread shuttering of schools — for weeks, maybe longer — thousands of districts are asking their staffs to create, sometimes out of nothing, credible and productive work that can be done by students from their homes orContinue reading “the shock and the sacred”

I am probably taking my undergrads online starting Monday, as they return from spring break. This isn’t university policy yet, but it’s not NOT policy either. Most recent guidance states that “faculty may choose to take classes online as they determine best meets the needs of their classes,” and I so determine. It is timeContinue reading “the presence of social distancing”

I love summer vacation. One of the most precious parts of a life in schools is the implacability of the schedule. In September, as sure as gravity, I teach. And right now, in the middle of the summer — unless I make a deliberate choice to do otherwise — I do not. But I getContinue reading “the fullness of emptying out”

It has become quite fashionable for educators and educational institutions to describe their offerings as contracts with their students. This is completely inaccurate, and misleading. I think I know why it is happening, though. I believe there is evidence that the value of education generally, and higher education specifically, is being gradually rendered suspect byContinue reading “This Syllabus is Not a Contract”

  (Kinda spoilery, sorry – go see it!) Believe it or not, the most memorable moment for me in horror movie of the year Hereditary is a relatively quiet one: a mom speaking to her son. Annie looks hard at Peter, both in profile. And suddenly something true, but horrible, erupts from her lips: sheContinue reading “The Grim Pedagogies of “Hereditary””