LwCH

Mature Leadership: On Bending the Arc

Shortly after Barack Obama won the 2008 Iowa caucuses, I wrote a blog post entitled Toward a Mature Politics that began with the Kantian idea that enlightenment requires us to relinquish our self-incurred immaturity. Then,…

Christopher LongJanuary 19, 2017

Education Living LwCH The Administrative Life The Long Road

Inhabiting a Liminal Space

With the announcement that I would be recommended as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State, Val, the girls, and I entered a liminal space. I have long be drawn to the…

Christopher LongMay 25, 2015

Living LwCH The Long Road

Anticipation

Excitement abounds here in the Long household as preparations are made for the arrival of Santa. At 9- and 8-years old, the girls are at that prime age when Christmas is long anticipated and full…

Christopher LongDecember 24, 2013

Living LwCH The Long Road

Evening Sledding

It was dark before I got around to shoveling the walkway. The girls were excited to be outside, but I had a chore to complete. They wanted to go sledding, so they started down the…

Christopher LongDecember 8, 2013

LwCH The Long Road

DancinGirl Turns 7, Ponders Finitude

As we pulled into our driveway after running errands preparing for her Monster High birthday party, DancinGirl, who was generally excited about the day, announced that she has been thinking a lot, recently, about death.…

Christopher LongNovember 11, 2012

Education LwCH The Long Road

Literacy in Bloom

DancinGirl has fallen in love with words. Actually, she has always loved to play with words, singing, rhyming, mimicking. But now her love of the verbal has exploded into literacy. She is reading voraciously; book…

Christopher LongMay 29, 2012

LwCH The Long Road

Complementarity

LITCHFIELD, SC - Vacation can be a time for moments of insight and tenderness. One such moment came this week for me at a restaurant here in South Carolina called Studio Café. (You can see…

Christopher LongDecember 30, 2011

LwCH The Long Road

For DancinGirl on Her First Day of Kindergarten

Dear DancinGirl: Do you know why I call you DancinGirl when I write about you here? It is because, from the moment I met you, now almost six years ago, you were dancing. At first,…

Christopher LongAugust 30, 2011

Education LwCH The Long Road

The Untimely Death of a Preschool

St. Andrew's Preschool Originally uploaded by cplong11 It happened without warning, without any hint that the end was at hand. Suddenly, there it was: May 27th, the day after the last day of the preschool…

Christopher LongJune 10, 2011

Image of a wave breaking in the ocean with two figures to the right, a father and a daughter. The father, in a baseball cap, is lifting the daughter over the wave as it breaks. The foam of earlier waves are in the foreground. It is a relatively overcast day.

LwCH The Long Road

Beginning in Wonder

Aristotle, of course, famously said: "For it is by way of wondering that people both now and at first began to philosophize ..." (Metaphysics, I.2, 982b13-4). Tonight, ArtGirl began to philosophize. She wondered so eloquently…

Christopher LongMarch 26, 2011

LwCH The Long Road

The Big Oh-Five

Little Girl by a Little Girl Originally uploaded by cplong11 Today is DancinGirl's birthday and it has been a day of well, dancing. And on Saturday, at her princess dance party, we will dance some…

Christopher LongNovember 11, 2010

Living LwCH The Long Road

Letting Jelly Dog Go

On Sunday, ArtGirl stood in front of the mirror looking at herself. I noticed two things: she seemed bigger to me and she was not holding her favorite stuffed animal, Jelly Dog. It was then…

Christopher LongAugust 26, 2010

Living LwCH The Long Road Travel

Playing in the Waves with My Daughter

MYRTLE BEACH, SC - She is uncertain, but brave and increasingly confident. The waves are not huge, but to her six-year-old self, they must be daunting. Even so, we venture out, her to test her…

Christopher LongJune 16, 2010

LwCH The Long Road

Now She is Six

Today is ArtGirl's birthday and I am feeling the need to mark the moment with a few reflections about some of the things I admire about my daughter.She questions with assiduous tenacity and refuses to…

Christopher LongMay 11, 2010

LwCH The Long Road Travel

Living the Contradictions of Disney

ORLANDO, FL - My first visit to Disney World surprised me. Before I had two girls, I never thought I would be interested in visiting a place that stood, in my mind, for all that…

Christopher LongApril 3, 2010

Academic Education LwCH Technology The Long Road

Embracing Different Voices

After talking to trusted people, thinking things over and otherwise working through the transition I am making to Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies at the College of the Liberal Arts, I have decided to embrace…

Christopher LongDecember 13, 2009

LwCH The Long Road

For Hannah on her Fourth

Dear Hannah: Today is the day we have been talking about since the summer - finally, it's your birthday! Today we celebrate you and the way you have celebrated us everyday since you arrived four…

Christopher LongNovember 11, 2009

Living LwCH The Long Road

LwCH 1A: First Snow 2009

We woke this morning in a cold, dark house as our power had gone out early in the morning. As we made our way downstairs, we began to realize that the power outage was only…

Christopher LongOctober 16, 2009

LwCH The Long Road

LwCH 15: Summer in PA '09

I just completed Life with Chloe and Hannah episode 15, which focuses on the first half of our summer in and around State College, excluding the 2009 Stone Harbor experience, which was captured in LwCH…

Christopher LongJuly 25, 2009

Living LwCH The Long Road

LwCH 14: Stone Harbor 2009

I have finally processed the footage from this year's vacation in Stone Harbor and produced a video available here:http://gallery.me.com/longc2#100144In the video you will see much splashing in the pool, reminiscences of last year on the…

Christopher LongJuly 6, 2009

Living LwCH The Long Road

Just Dancing

Here is episode 13 of Life with Chloe and Hannah. I have collected the video I took a few months ago at the Tussey Ski Area when they are dancing on the deck. I admire…

Christopher LongMay 20, 2009

LwCH The Long Road

Life with Chloe and Hannah 02 – Playing with Dolls

Here is another episode of Life with Chloe and Hannah (LwCH). It is a relatively short recording of the girls playing a typical game with their dolls, putting them to sleep and waking up again.…

Christopher LongNovember 20, 2007

LwCH The Long Road

Life with Chloe and Hannah 01 – Early Snow

I have posted Life with Chloe and Hannah, episode 01 below. It is the first of what I hope to be an ongoing collection of podcasts that capture something of the daily life of my…

Christopher LongNovember 9, 2007

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