Skip to main content
Category

The Long Road

LivingThe Long Road

Herb Garden

On this Father's Day, I felt compelled to see a project to completion. Much of my academic life involves projects that take a long time to complete. Last week I spent an entire day trying to…
Christopher Long
June 21, 2009
LivingThe Long Road

On Turning 40

STONE HARBOR, NJ Today is my 40th birthday: I feel the curvature of the arc of my life, the contour of its trajectory. As it begins, I hope, to press toward its apogee and ultimate…
Christopher Long
May 28, 2009
LivingThe Long Road

Happiness is Love

The title of this post comes from George Vaillant, the director of one of the longest running longitudinal studies of physical and mental well-being that has ever been undertaken. My attention was drawn to him…
Christopher Long
May 12, 2009
LivingThe Long Road

A New Phase

As I grow older, I realize more and more that a life is made up of lives, that an individual life involves phases linked yet distinct. With the approach of my 40th birthday in May,…
Christopher Long
April 2, 2009
Civic LifeThe Long Road

The Steep Climb

In a short but powerful speech from the Lincoln Memorial, Barack Obama stood where King had stood and offered a powerful rejoinder to some of those most powerful words King spoke 46 years ago.  Where…
Christopher Long
January 18, 2009
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Critical Optimism

My friend and colleague from the New School, Emma Bianchi, forwarded me an essay written by Judith Butler entitled "Uncritical Exuberance?" that cautions us against too enthusiastically identifying with the election of Barack Obama.  Butler…
Christopher Long
November 15, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Newsday Blog

My brother-in-law is the editor of the sports section of New York Newsday.  He asked for feedback from those of us living in battleground states.  I sent them a picture and a short report, which…
Christopher Long
November 4, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

"That One"?

Last night's presidential debate was, on the whole, quite substantive, offering the public a good sense of the fundamental differences between McCain and Obama on issues ranging from health care to foreign policy.  However, the…
Christopher Long
October 8, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

The Issues

In a striking comment earlier this month, Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, insisted: "This election is not about issues.  This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."…
Christopher Long
September 25, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

President 2.0

If Barack Obama wins in November, it will surely be historic, but not only because he would be the first African American president.  He would also be the first President elected based on an organizing…
Christopher Long
September 18, 2008
LivingThe Long Road

Long Time

I have now posted episode 9 of Life with Chloe and Hannah, entitled "Long Time." It chronicles our time with my brother, Jon, and his family, Hilary, Hoshaiah, Lucia and Natasha as they visited us…
Christopher Long
September 4, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Dream Ticket

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking that Obama might just pick Hillary Clinton as VP.  I know the media is saying that an Obama-Clinton ticket is unlikely, but still, consider this:Who is…
Christopher Long
August 16, 2008
LivingThe Long Road

A Small World

FREIBURG, GERMANY - I have been struck during my short visit here in Germany by the way the world is at once made smaller by the internet and yet remains also somehow large enough that…
Christopher Long
June 21, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

18 Million Cracks

Over the course of the last few months, I have been very critical of Hillary Clinton's politics. However, now is the time to recognize the powerful significance of her candidacy for the presidential nomination, to…
Christopher Long
June 10, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Divisive Politics

Leigh Johnson makes a very good point that to the extent that Hillary Clinton's continuation in the race for the Democratic nomination calls our attention to the struggle of women in American society, she should…
Christopher Long
May 8, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Our Turn

OK, Pennsylvania readers, it is now our turn to weigh in on the Democratic nominating process.  I hope tomorrow will put an end to the long primary season with a decisive victory for Obama.  The…
Christopher Long
April 21, 2008
Barack Obama Campaign Rally in PA 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Obama in PA

As many people must have heard, Barack Obama stopped in State College last Sunday on his six day tour of Pennsylvania.  The girls and I were there with 22,000 other people for the largest political…
Christopher Long
April 4, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

PSU for Obama

A number of graduate students, faculty and Penn State staff have started a Google Group to spread the word about Obama and generate excitement about his campaign. It seems now that Pennsylvania will finally have…
Christopher Long
March 6, 2008
LivingThe Long Road

Winter Hike

On Sunday, Val, Hannah, Chloe and I went on a winter nature hike sponsored by the Millbrook Marsh Nature Center. Although everything was covered with snow, we were about to witness the more dormant side…
Christopher Long
March 4, 2008
LivingThe Long Road

Laughter

WNYC's Radio Lab did a wonderful set of stories on laughter recently.  They appeal to Aristotle as having said that human beings "are the only ones of the animals that laugh" (Parts of Animals, 673a7).…
Christopher Long
March 1, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Preemptive Dialogue

I have recently been struck by, and stuck between, two critiques of Obama's foreign policy approach.  The first, articulated here in Kristin Rawl's thoughtful response to my last post on Style with Substance, argues that…
Christopher Long
February 15, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Yes We Can

There is really only one message this week: Yes We Can.Will.i.am, who says he is not big on politics, was nevertheless moved after New Hampshire to write and produce this song based on the speech…
Christopher Long
February 3, 2008
Civic LifeThe Long Road

Toward a Mature Politics

In his famous essay, What is Enlightenment?, Immanuel Kant writes: Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.  Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another.Kant, Immanuel. “An Answer…
Christopher Long
January 25, 2008
LivingThe Long Road

No Monsters

Lately, we have had a monster problem in our house. Chloe has been very concerned about monsters, particularly the possibility that one or more live in one of her closets. Checking the closets before bed…
Christopher Long
December 30, 2007
LivingThe Long Road

Phil & Sophia

Two boxes of old slides had been sitting in my closet for years. My mother gave them to me long ago with the thought that maybe we might look at them sometime. Over Thanksgiving this…
Christopher Long
December 15, 2007
TechnologyThe Long Road

Web 3.0

After hearing the Education Technology Services (ETS) Talk, number 35 in which issues were raised about the limits of Facebook and other aspects of Web 2.0 social networking that were feeling a bit cumbersome, I…
Christopher Long
December 13, 2007