tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26225624136409345072012-02-15T23:52:59.079-08:00The Magazine of the Liberal Arts for General AudiencesMichael Timmnoreply@blogger.comBlogger371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-58403476656227672282011-07-13T20:26:00.001-07:002011-07-13T20:26:38.768-07:00

Thank you for your patience as the Music issue is edited. 13July2011 M

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-37840215226539083222010-10-31T22:11:00.000-07:002011-03-25T17:27:12.564-07:00

Milwaukee Anthropologist is now soliciting essays on the next issue's question: How central is music to the human experience? Email queries to the contact info below by the end of May 2011. - - - Thank you for your patience. This issue is much delayed due to a number of factors, all of them ultimately my responsibility. I also beg the indulgence of my gracious contributors, who in addition to

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-63662650735229486982010-10-31T22:10:00.001-07:002010-10-31T22:10:38.699-07:00

By Tony Gibart Democracy: What is it, and is it a good idea? The question for this issue reminds me of the oft-quoted quip Gandhi made when asked by a reporter what he thought of Western civilization. He said he thought it was a good idea. With this remark, he was not just saying that the ideals of Western civilization were never fully realized in Western countries, although he certainly was

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-30474119154427683342010-10-31T22:10:00.000-07:002010-10-31T22:10:24.538-07:00

By Michael LaForest Is democracy a good idea? It may be, but I have some reservations about the way democracy plays out in American society and specifically in American politics. For now, let’s assume that democracy is a good idea, at least in theory, but we must also consider that the failings of American democracy are rooted in a bipartisan political arena, political ineptitude,

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-58448255381638894342010-10-31T22:09:00.000-07:002010-10-31T22:09:48.151-07:00

By Ben Klandrud This July 4th, 2010, we celebrated our 234th national birthday. For most, this was a festive day marked by parades, concerts, and fireworks. It meant a day off of work, summer sun, and cookouts with traditional foods, like the beer brats and cold watermelon enjoyed by my family. American flags were prominently displayed, adorning homes and T-shirts. Independence Day has become

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-65687460032777742422010-08-11T21:22:00.000-07:002010-10-30T14:22:58.884-07:00

This site will be updated by Election Day 2010. Thank you for your patience. 30October2010

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-41973321110973763752010-06-10T22:18:00.000-07:002010-06-10T22:18:46.280-07:00

Thank you for your patience. The Spring 2010 Democracy issue (What is democracy really and is it really a good idea?) will be uploaded, but not until early Summer 2010. If you are interested in contributing an essay on the forthcoming topics of Humor, Music, Purpose, or God, please send an email query to platypus [dot] found [at] yahoo [dot] com. These are all broad areas of human import and

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-2386692939867581242010-01-11T21:50:00.000-08:002010-01-23T18:54:03.025-08:00

By Michael Timm There's something about ascending particular stairwells that lingers vividly in my memory. The stairs I climbed the very first time in Puno, Peru, heart racing from the altitude. Never before had I been winded simply walking up the stairs—but life at 3,000 meters will do that to someone whose lungs have developed along the shores of Lake Michigan. Those stairs were nothing

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-91217496236211542472010-01-11T21:48:00.001-08:002010-01-21T14:26:46.162-08:00

By Richard J. Sklba As long as the human heart has experienced a glimmer of desire for something more than whatever might be at hand in the present reality, we have known the hope for happiness. Happiness suggests something deeply desired and already possessed, at least to the degree that it can satisfy our basic needs and hopes. For some people that sum total is minimal and modest, but for

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-79050053888670258502010-01-11T21:48:00.000-08:002010-01-15T11:26:56.136-08:00

By Jason Haas An inquiry of this sort must first pay a visit to the text of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. In his history of the Greco-Persian Wars of the fifth century B.C.E., Herodotus devoted a fair bit of writing to King Croesus of Lydia. The story bears repeating for those not familiar with it. By Herodotus' account, Croesus was one of the wealthiest individuals in the ancient

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-59922084090621304862010-01-11T21:47:00.000-08:002010-01-15T12:04:45.685-08:00

By Kevin Woodcock Generally speaking, we in the modern and postmodern eras have a problem with happiness. Our philosophers, poets, and novelists tend to keep any sense of fulfillment at arm's length, suspicious that giving in to happiness or settling into a sense of fulfillment—or even meaning—is only falling for one of the bits of the world that remains to be disabused. For instance, in his On

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-1964397954230899042010-01-10T19:58:00.000-08:002010-01-12T12:33:17.335-08:00

By Charles Oberweiser You might say happiness is my profession. I work in the community service office of a medium-sized liberal arts college where it's my job to convince college students that some of the best ways to experience happiness come through the community service projects I organize. I've found the potential of being happy is such a powerful incentive that it makes 19-year-olds do

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-5481937033487666912009-06-28T21:28:00.001-07:002009-07-15T00:08:37.029-07:00

Here is the place, my lord; good my lord, enter,The tyranny of the open night's too roughFor nature to endure.—Kent, as Caius, to Lear in William Shakespeare's King Lear, 3.4.1Greetings,This installment of the magazine is somewhat tardy, but I hope that fact does not prevent patient readers from finding its essays cause for asking what is natural.What is natural?Another one of those big, abstract

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-89740221317513292812009-06-28T20:46:00.004-07:002009-07-14T22:04:53.791-07:00

By Brandon Lorenz"You're not gay, are you?"In seven years as a journalist I've discovered that asking questions for a living has given me the ability to evade them when asked by others.Unfortunately, that question was asked of me during my first three months as a professional journalist. I would have expected it from one of the cops I covered, but not a fellow reporter and the person who was

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-11153288420258354822009-06-28T20:46:00.003-07:002009-07-14T22:06:13.573-07:00

By Michael TimmTo ask what is natural supposes two avenues of inquiry: What is the way things actually are? What is the way things are supposed to be?Tension arises because ideas conflict about the nature and content of the natural, especially if related to the second question. Is it something that once was, independently of and prior to the appearance of and observation by human beings? Or does

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-40927487363078510252009-06-28T20:45:00.001-07:002009-07-13T21:24:07.083-07:00

By Luke BalsavichCharlesCharles was so excited. He was about to embark on another great adventure. His father had been bringing him to Wisconsin every summer since he could remember, and he was at last going to return to what he knew to be “God’s Country.” His father had shared stories of his own childhood in the very same area, and Charles felt a sense of pride having the same summer haunts at

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-9712202032989041912009-03-16T10:45:00.001-07:002009-03-20T00:51:09.782-07:00

What is freedom? On the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere when the world seems open with life and warmth and possibility, I'm proud to introduce a strong crop of contributions addressing this question.In the issue's flagship essay, "The freedom to become free," Ripon College's Cody Pinkston and David Joyce team up to present a marvelous work of rhetoric—a sort of invisible

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-77057680465348900502009-03-16T10:44:00.005-07:002009-03-19T11:53:27.640-07:00

By Cody Pinkston & Dr. David C. Joyce The subjectivity inherent in the question “What is freedom?” is actually part of the answer. Ask it of a thousand people and you will get a thousand different replies—therein lies its beauty. As flattering as it is to think that someone might be interested in my definition of the word, I must first make one thing very clear: A definition of freedom by one

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-33126256585094577762009-03-16T10:44:00.003-07:002009-03-19T13:24:39.411-07:00

By Ryan Kresse Greetings, friends. I most pleased to be writing to you from the year 2115. You read that correctly. I am writing to you from the future. Your esteemed editor Mr. Michael Timm contacted me about writing something about Freedom for his website (people with websites can bend the laws of the Universe, it’s one of the laws of the Universe). I was deeply honored, of course. And

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-26137389478810991592009-03-16T10:44:00.001-07:002009-03-19T11:41:00.975-07:00

By James Mlaker As president of the United States of America, George W. Bush frequently used the term freedom in many of his speeches to the American public. I often wondered if the freedom he frequently referred to was the same freedom that I would refer to. Even more importantly, is the rest of the American public on the same page when it comes to Mr. Bush's freedom? Freedom in the

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-34391149607585558202009-03-16T10:43:00.000-07:002009-03-20T07:29:28.009-07:00

By Michael TimmIt was 1989. I was seven years old. In a movie theater which no longer exists, I was watching Star Trek V: The Final Frontier with my parents.I was scared by this movie. What scared me was that Doctor McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and a whole bunch of other fine men and women get brainwashed by Spock's half-brother, Sybok. Sybok has "freed from pain" an entire ad-hoc terrorist army

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-63287761610690951812008-12-20T13:39:00.003-08:002008-12-23T14:30:26.091-08:00

Welcome to Issue 3 of this publication, which features three essays addressing the question What is Love?In "Reflections on that lovely bright spot," Mary Vuk Sussman surveys popular culture references to the L-word and discusses how love of God and exercise may both be healthy for human life. She decides that love is a "bright spot of interest" that pulls us outside of ourselves and enriches our

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-33102326556189479452008-12-20T13:39:00.001-08:002008-12-26T21:17:52.815-08:00

By Tina Kemp Blame it on years of studying the logic and objectivity one must in order to earn a math degree, but when as question such as “What is love?” is posed to me, my first inclination is to hammer out a definition. A lot of common definitions of love rely on feelings—affection, desire. A friend of mine, when I expressed my distaste for defining something on such subjective metrics as

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-90209275035712067302008-12-20T13:38:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:55:01.016-08:00

By Mary Vuk Sussman Love isn’t always falling in love. We know from pop song lyrics that falling in love with love is falling for make-believe. But most of us fall in love (sometimes over and over again Woody Allen style) when we are young (or not so young if we happen to be Woody Allen). Love isn’t necessarily making love, though making war is most always a form of anti-love. It certainly isn’t

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-83094500305938652382008-12-20T12:50:00.000-08:002008-12-23T13:54:06.950-08:00

By Michael Timm"Because he is the son of Resource and Poverty, Love's situation is like this. First of all, he's always poor; far from being sensitive and beautiful, as is commonly supposed, he's tough, with hardened skin, without shoes or home. He always sleeps rough, on the ground, with no bed, lying in doorways and by roads in the open air; sharing his mother's nature, he always lives in a

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-4821930684233695042008-09-17T20:54:00.004-07:002008-09-22T23:58:36.762-07:00

Sometimes our contact with it is painful. Sometimes it's daunting or confusing. At other times, we can't help but laugh at it in spite of ourselves.The second issue of this publication has assembled a fresh range of voices on a topic that I think many are reluctant to thoroughly, openly, and deeply unpack. This resistance is in no small part, I suspect, because it's a theme that confronts each of

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-58574325834285193312008-09-17T20:54:00.003-07:002008-09-23T00:37:06.996-07:00

By Michael Timm With the inadvertent kicking of something that feels to my left foot like a jellyfish, I start to feel not alone in the ocean swells. When I see a clear circular blob in the water that looks like it has red insides, I double-time on my noodle and scramble back to the shore. As the moon jellies start piling up on the shore, I start to wonder. Beached, these strange invertebrates

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-51601703525848725742008-09-17T20:54:00.002-07:002008-09-22T14:28:27.750-07:00

By Helena Fahnrich I have seen one dead body. My grandmother died three years ago, my grandfather about 15 years ago. The funeral I went to, however, was not one of theirs, nor was the body I saw. The funeral and the body were those of a boy I had met my freshmen year of college. It was a private college and he was the goalie for the soccer team. I met him through friends who smoked pot. He

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-56402144150483087462008-09-17T20:54:00.001-07:002008-09-22T14:02:29.686-07:00

By Kevin Cullen What is death? This perplexing question is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries and inevitabilities of the universe. What began in the chemical chaos of celestial origins about 13.7 billion years ago (Kirshner 2004), has resulted in an ever-expanding explosion of energy. This explosion of energy and the many manifestations of organic matter that resulted also rendered the great

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-55152452971709869752008-09-17T20:54:00.000-07:002009-11-30T07:56:03.755-08:00

By John Janssen Whilst strolling the lakefront sometime in my thirties, I was theologically accosted by two women concerned that I would suffer eternal death lest I follow their teachings that led to eternal life. We strolled side-by-side and talked accompanied by a pleasant Lake Michigan breeze. After about 15 minutes, the conversation ended abruptly when they asserted that, should they remove

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-76650257521480812352008-06-21T19:37:00.001-07:002008-06-22T15:27:23.707-07:00

The inaugural issue of this publication asked a big question. Several people I spoke with expressed amused consternation (or worse) that I would ask potential contributors such a broad and ill-defined question: "What is Life?" But I'm happy to report that my boldness in putting this question out there has provoked some fascinating and thoughtful responses. Clinical psychologist (and so

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-23787380994884026862008-06-21T19:10:00.000-07:002008-06-21T19:23:05.238-07:00

By Louis BergerWhat is Life? Here is the answer given by Wikipedia, The internet’s free encyclopedia:Life is a condition that distinguishes organisms from non-living objects, such as non-life, and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism and reproduction. Some living things can communicate and many can adapt to their environment through changes originating internally.(This

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-39857974377279219352008-06-21T18:29:00.003-07:002008-06-21T23:26:46.106-07:00

By Michael Timm "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." —Antoine de Saint Exupéry I asked my 4-year-old nephew what life was the other day. "Living?" he answered, not, I suspect, entirely understanding the question. "Living?" I said, not entirely understanding the answer. He

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-81784239697383931702008-06-21T18:29:00.001-07:002008-06-21T23:04:48.128-07:00

What is information? Does it subscribe to a natural law of behavior analogous to the law of conservation of mass and energy? Does information obey the thermodynamic behavior law of entropy? What is information?We might start by assuming, intuitively, that information is something that teaches us something. We might start by assuming information is the smallest bit, or any of larger bits, of

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-65225402596770208532008-06-21T18:28:00.002-07:002008-06-21T19:21:20.374-07:00

By Greg BirdOne of the endearing tendencies of human beings is to occasionally step out of living our daily lives and reflect on understanding this larger thing we’re wrapped up in.Individually, our lives are significantly comprehensible. Eating, eliminating, seeing, hearing, speaking, touching, working, thinking, sleeping—all and more are done daily and are the substance of our lives. Our

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-3844155995549702842008-06-21T18:28:00.001-07:002008-06-21T23:06:06.348-07:00

By Christopher PoffWhat is life? It can be amazing how such a short, simple question can explode into so many different answers.Douglas Adams illustrated in his whimsical novel Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that, in order for any answer to make sense, one has to understand what the question truly entails. It can be analyzed, of course, from a clinical perspective–what characteristics must the

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2622562413640934507.post-10240585574551995112008-06-21T18:25:00.001-07:002008-06-21T23:06:17.830-07:00

By Jill Florence LackeyDiscussions of life nearly always include discussions of death or next stage journeys. Cultural anthropologists, like me, learn the variety of ways that individuals and groups have viewed life and the ways they expect to move into a next stage. Their beliefs reflect attitudes about the world they currently live in, and life generally.Most beliefs of cultural groups and

Michael Timmnoreply@blogger.com1