Prom night for Gus

Well, I just got back from dropping off Gus at his junior prom... a proud moment with such a handsome young man.


For reasons that I don't understand, however, he declined to follow my advice to wear a baby-blue tuxedo, and he didn't even seem to pay attention when I showed him some disco moves.  Kids these days.

Pond (pic)

Today's sign that I'm getting old and cranky

Twice in the last two weeks, I've walked into a store and had a clerk (both young guys) shout out, as a greeting, "Hey buddy."  Now, I didn't know these clerks nor am I a regular customer there.  Instead, it's the new "may I help you".  I just ignored their greeting on the grounds that we're not yet buddies.  The greeting bothered me a bit, but I was probably more bothered that it bothered me.  Getting old...

The first review of my book

This review, from Publisher's Weekly, is a nice summary of the book (and the publicist at Baker was really happy it's not negative).


"A sociologist at the University of Connecticut, Wright examines recent survey data on Christian evangelicals to see if they substantiate the often misguided and hyperbolic public perceptions of this faith group. Separating the wheat from the chaff, he explains how some poorly worded, ill-sampled statistics give the wrong impression of evangelicals and why people should avoid giving them credence. Though he often blames the media for gleefully reporting bad news about devout Christians, he doesn’t spare evangelical polemicists such as Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel for their false exaggerations of evangelical shortcomings. His biggest target may be the pollster George Barna, whose surveys on Christianity have generated intense controversy. Wright’s colloquial writing style gives this volume the feel of a folksy college lecture series. The abundant use of graphics adds to the impression the book’s genesis was cribbed from introductory sociology of religion classes. The conclusions drawn here--no surprise--are that the most committed Christians practice what they preach, performing better than the rest of the population on a host of social measures including divorce, domestic violence, sexual misconduct, crime, substance abuse, and everyday honesty. The book would have been more interesting if it were about pirates, though (July)"


(Okay, I added the last sentence)

Family Dinner Hour

I just came across an interesting idea.... Karlyn Bowman has written that the typical number of meals taken together by parents and children in the United States is about the same now as it was at the end of the 19th century. Now, families might miss meals because they are too busy, but back then, it wasn't always considered appropriate to dine with one's children, so the factors wash each other out. (Summarized from Easterbrook's 2003 The Progress Paradox, p. 194).

This may not apply to the golden era of the 1950s, but it does highlight that the past doesn't always fit our idyllic perceptions.

Sunsets (pics)

Same lake, same sunset, just different perspective (to get the log in the foreground). 

Faces of Meth

If you've not seen it before, you should check out the Faces of Meth website. It shows pictures of people before and after meth addiction. The addictive nature of meth, and its impact on the body, is phenomenal.


Here is an example from the site.  The pictures were taken 3.5 years apart, and it looks like she's aged a couple of decades:

My new photography site

Well, I have switched from Flickr to SmugMug as my photography site. SmugMug costs an annual fee, but it looks so much nicer and has a more intuitive feel.


Check it out here, and let me know what you think.

Pharmaceutical companies and methamphetamine

I've recently read Methland, a story about the effects of methamphetamine use on a small town in Iowa. (I also assigned it to my crime class).


Now, I don't naturally gravitate toward a critical/ conflict theory of sociologist (i.e., one that focuses on the oppression by the elite), but this book describes the very real ways that big pharmaceutical companies, and their lobbyists, have made the meth epidemic what it is today.


Meth is made with pseudoephedrine--the stuff in cold medicine. Regulating it seems like an easy way to hinder the production of meth, but on numerous occasions the big drug companies fought against it. They didn't want to keep track of imports or sales. In fact, it's possible to make psuedoephedrine so that it can't be used for meth, but they fought that too. I understand that these companies are charged by their shareholders to maximize profits, but at what cost?

My new research philosophy

Previously on this blog, I presented my new teaching philosophy--derived from the wisdom of Dwight Schrute on the show The Office.


Now it's time for research. I watched a rerun last night that had the perfect quotation for how I want to chose and conduct research projects.


"Whenever I am about to do something I think - would an idiot do that - and if they would, I would not do that thing"


That's it; in fact, many of my mistakes in research are things that an idiot would do, and so if I avoid those, my research will be much stronger.

More daffodils (pics)

My book on tape

My forthcoming book (which, by the way, feels really, really good to say), has been picked up by a books-on-tape company.  They are hiring me to read the book and paying me way-too-much money to do so.  


I do this next week, but it occurs to me that all our communication has been by e-mail.  They don't actually know what I sound like.  So.... when I first meet them, I have a strong urge to talk like Mickey Mouse or, even better, Donald Duck.  The contract has been signed after all.  It would be hilarious to see what they do.

Daffodils (pics)

Three pictures of the same daffodils... I'm not sure which one I like best.


Any thoughts?

10 most influential changes since WWII

I have been reading and enjoying Robert Samuelson's 1995 book The Good Life and Its Discontents. In one section, he lists what he thinks are the 10 most important changes in the 50 years between 1945 and 1995. He lists:
1) Television
2) Jet travel
3) Air-conditioning
4) Long-distance phone service
5) Interstate highways
6) Washing machines and dryers
7) Antibiotics
8) Social security and private pensions
9) Health insurance
10) The Pill


Samuelson wrote this before the internet really took off, but still, it's an intriguing list. It's hard to imagine life without any one of these. It makes me wonder what the 2000-2050 list will look like.

What is the American Dream?

I've seen a number of statements defining the American Dream, some sincere, some cynical.  So, I was interested when I came across a summary of what appears to be the original statement of it, by historian James Truslow Adams.


According to him, it is the "Dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.... It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each women shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and to be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position"


Basically, he envisioned it as a pure meritocracy, not just obtaining material abundance.  Hm-m-m-m-m.

Fact: I have a new teaching philosophy

Last week I was watching a rerun of The Office, one of my favorite shows, and Dwight Schrute made a statement (to Jim) that epitomizes the approach that some faculty seem to take with their students, so, I think that I will adopt it as my teaching philosophy.

"Fact, I am older, I am wiser. Do not mess with me."


What do you think? Maybe I should put it on the syllabus?

Weeping copper beech in snow (pic)

A problem with sentimentality (vid)

An organization wanted to honor orphan children. They inflated a bunch of ballons, launched them, with each representing a child. Well... bad things happened.

Cynicism is safer...

UConn sidewalk in snow storm (pic)

There was a snowstorm during finals week, and here some students are goofing around in it.  It was a great scene, but I'm not sure that I captured it that well.  Overall the picture may be too light.

Quotation about publishing

I was watching an old episode of the Addams family with Floyd. (We watch it on our Roku, which we are big fans of).


In this episode, Morticia becomes an author, and she gives this quotation that may be words for me to live by:


"All work and no play gets books done"