schools of Liberal Art.
What would it take? It might take
coming to shared terms about what
The Liberal Art is—as opposed to
the liberal arts: the majors and minors,
disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies
we already practice with rigor and
innovation along withcolleges and
universities across the country, all of
them concerned in these troubled times
with academics and service and common
themes and memes: globalization, energy,
critical thinking, assessment & evaluation,
economics, education, family values, arts
in regular life, drugs & alcohol, depression
and attention deficiency. . .
It’s no challenge to criticize, mock, blame,
ridicule and excoriate “the bad guys”—at
any point, bad guys bad guys all around—
litterbugs, bottle water drinkers, SUV drivers,
smokers, over-eaters, fast food enablers,
industrialized this and that, commodifying
this and that, outsourcers, progressives,
conservatives, illegal immigrants, racial
profilers, plagiarizers, fur coat wearers,
steep- slope developers, Obamacare
purveyors, Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart,
domestic violators, child pornographers,
terrorists, bankers and realtors and on
and on: bad guys galore: more bad guys
than good guys if you watch news and
talking heads and those running for
political office.
A POX in all Houses (ecos’s)
To be a LEADER among schools of
Liberal Art, I think the challenge would be
in developing a healthy misanthropological
over-view and outlook: one that can think
critical thinking critically about the whole
species —the good and bad, the beautiful
and the ugly: suspending (but not denying)
belief and disbelief as well as judgment, at
least in “school mode” (as opposed to
“church” and “state” modes)—not free
of bias & belief & prejudice & conviction,
confusion & ignorance, envy & enmity,
jealousy & conscious ego-driven aims, goals,
& terms of desire but free of the necessity of
denyingthem and covering them up so as to
look good, know what I mean?
I want to be good so bad I can’t afford the
bad it takes to get GOOD. Costs too much
So what I’m saying is: develop a shared
program that capitalizes and exploits the
Bad IT Takes to get good —one that is
good at getting at the bad-it-takes to
get good. .Thrives on it, sees it as local
foor & renewable resource Energizer.
I'm calling it Liberal Art because it precedes
(theoretically if not temporally) the practice
of liberal arts in the way attitude and mind-set
precede and frame the work of any sport or art.
An environmental issue.
But maybe you can improve my terms here.
I wish you would. What do you think it takes
to become a leader among schools of liberal art.
No, seriously. Rigor and innovation, sure, but
beyond that?
There are probably lots of ways to talk about this:
what it takes. It would take a village conversation
going on across the curriculum. Sustaining if we
could sustain it—make it sustainable.
A sustainability issue.
xxxooo, Sam
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