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Posts tagged with the category Christina Robertson
Anne L. Francis-Okongwu, Ph.D., 1940-2012: Social Worker, Anthropologist, Teacher, Mother, Sister, Friend
Anne and I met at the gym 18 years ago when I was fortunate enough to choose an exercise bike next to the one she was peddling. We soon became fast friends. We worked out at the gym, did volunteer work, went shopping, visited museums, talked on the phone, and enjoyed one another’s company. Most of all we shared our deep cares, concerns, and...
Helping Young Adults Examine Existential Questions Through Literature: The Tragedy Paper
As parents, grandparents, teachers, and therapists, we may find ourselves asking what the best way is to approach “existential questions” with young people? What is the best way for us to get a glimpse of the “existential dilemmas” they face in their young lives? How can we learn the thought processes they may go through in...
December 21, 2012—Is the End Near? Or Will a New Era Begin?
My husband and I recently had the good fortune to travel to Mayan sites in Guatemala and Copan, Honduras. To prepare for our trip, we attended the Maya 2012 Lords of Time exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The exhibition explored the current fascination with predictions of a world-transforming...
Encountering “The Other,” or First Impressions
What was your first thought when you saw this photograph? Did you wonder, “What happened?” Did you make certain assumptions or guesses? This is a photograph of my face after I tripped and fell on the sidewalk in Philadelphia where I live. I can assure you it gave me new meaning to the expression, “Falling...
Reflections of an Existential Grandmother
I have always defined myself as an existentialist. As a parent, this meant I was responsible for providing opportunities for my children so they could develop into unique individuals. I watched as they created their respective identities through the authentic (fortunately, more authentic than inauthentic) choices they made. It was easy to see my...
Considering Institutional Cover-ups Using an Existentialist Perspective
Living in Philadelphia in recent months, I have been listening to news about two scandals—one involving a Monsignor of the Catholic Church accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by a priest, and the scandal that broke last Fall involving a football coach at Penn State University accused of molesting young boys.
Both trials occurred during...
Remembering Paul Fussell 1924 – 2012
Paul Fussell, professor, literary scholar, expert on the First and Second World Wars, social historian, and a critic of popular culture, died on May 23rd at age 88. Words frequently used to describe Paul are curmudgeon and stingingly opinionated—I would agree with these words. Paul was not a person who “suffered fools gladly”—or at least those...
Riding a Harley-Davidson—A “Vehicle” to Existential Joy?
What relationship does the experience of riding Harley Davidson-Motorcycles have to existentialism? A first response may be “Nothing!” Riding a Harley is a leisure activity—it is not related to existentialist philosophy or psychology at all. Because I have conducted extensive research on the meaning of riding a Harley for those who own them, I...
A Trip to Cambodia Prompts Existential Reflections
A major tenet of existentialism is we create our lives through our values, choices, and actions. Certainly, no one would say this is an “easy” task during any time period. European Existentialists of the 1940s and 1950s, such as Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, and Frankl, formed their philosophies with World War II as a backdrop—when...
The Perspective Nature Provides
What role does nature play in your life? My family is divided between city and country dwellers. While I appreciate the numerous cultural advantages of living in the city of Philadelphia, occasionally I am annoyed by the downside – the noise, ugly alley and street views from our windows, not being able to see the stars, and most...
The limits of what we can measure
What is the best way to measure performance? What role should metrics play? Should measurements strive to be entirely “objective”? What is the best way to measure “reality”? These are some questions I have grappled with in recent months trying to understand students’ grading concerns in a graduate course I taught in...
Why do we like to be “scared to death?”
We are approaching that time of year known as “Halloween.” While Halloween may not have achieved the holiday status of Thanksgiving or Christmas, it is second only to Christmas in revenues (seven billion) generated by sales of scary costumes, decorations, candy, and haunted activities. It is the season when my grandmother...
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