Interview with Javad Heiran-Nia in Tehran Times, November 1, 2015, 1 & 11.
I have again had the great opportunity to give an interview for reporter Javad Hieran-Nia of The Tehran Times, Iran’s major English-language newspaper. I feel honored to have my interview again land the first page of the paper. The image on right is of the front page, but is also a link to a printable Adobe PDF version of the piece, which I edited onto one page. You can alternatively click here or on the title of the piece below for the same linked file.
Originally published in the Oxford Eagle on October 28, 2015. Republished with permission.
Lyndy Berryhill, Oxford Eagle.
I’m grateful to Lyndy Berryhill of The Oxford Eagle, who came to our forum with Judge Reeves. She also kindly gave me permission to republish her piece on my page here. Thanks again to the Mississippi Humanities Council and to the College of Liberal Arts for their support for the event! Thanks to Berryhill for coming and letting people know about the event. There’s so much to be proud of in Mississippi. It’s crucial that we talk about that more often. Here’s her piece:
Judge Carlton Reeves, photo by Lyndy Berryhill of the Oxford Eagle, 2015.
In the wake of racial discussions on campus, the University of Mississippi provided students with a speaker to talk about Mississippi history and racial violence in the state.
District Judge Carlton Reeves has presided over key race and equality cases in Mississippi
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves spoke on “Race and Moral Leadership in the U.S. Judicial System.” Tuesday afternoon in Bryant Hall.
“Mississippi has struggled with its past, but it has also struggled to move forward,” Reeves said.
Reeves famously presided over the racially charged murder of James Craig Anderson and later sentenced his murderers to prison. NPR called his speech at the trial “breathtaking” and it garnered Reeves national media attention. During the forum, Reeves talked about the case and how it was important for people to realize what a hate crime is.
Photo by Lyndy Berryhill of The Oxford Eagle, 2015. Posted here with permission.
Judge Reeves’s talk and visit to my class went better than I could have hoped. Here’s a great article that the Oxford Eagle published about the open forum discussion, which was sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council.
Thanks to all who came and thanks to the College of Liberal Arts, the Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, and the Mississippi Humanities Council.
At the Clinton School for Public Service, on Monday, October 19, 2015 at noon.
I am so grateful for two lovely introductions, one from Dean Skip Rutherford of the Clinton School and a former student of mine studying there, Rob Pillow. This video includes only the talk and Q&A. If I can get their intros, I’ll post them too. The Clinton School folks are excellent at what they do and were wonderful hosts. Here’s the video of my book talk:
If you’re interested in inviting me to speak with your group, visit my Speaking and Contacts pages.
Orson Welles circa 1975.
Update: I had to link to another video on YouTube. The good news is that this one is captioned properly.
Philosopher Vince Evans today shared with me (and others on FB) this great video illustration of Plato’s allegory of the cave. It’s from 1973 and was narrated by Orson Welles, which is already very cool. It was illustrated with artwork by Dick Oden, according to the description posted on YouTube. If you’ve got 8 minutes, check it out.
This is perhaps the most influential allegory in the history of philosophy. You can read the original text of the allegory on the Internet Classics Archive. Book VII of the Republic opens with the allegory.
My Philosophy of Leadership course at the University of Mississippi focuses extensively on Plato’s Republic for the first third of the class. Plato had a great deal to say about the virtues of the soul, of the city, and of the kinds of people that his Socrates believed we need if we are to have a just society. For those who think that Plato is not the right thinker to inspire leaders in a democratic society, I suggest you read the interview that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave, in which he said that, not counting Scripture, his “desert island book” would be the Republic.
‘View from Ventress’ – Nice Announcements
It’s hard for a big institution to show appreciation for all the people who deserve it. Given that, I feel fortunate. The College of Liberal Arts has issued its 2015 ‘View from Ventress’ publication, in which it announced awards over the last year. This past year was an exciting one, as in February, the MS Humanities Council issued me their Public Humanities Scholar award and in September my book came out, Uniting Mississippi.
The college noted both in a very nice piece they put together in this yearly fall publication. If you click here or on the image on right, you can open a PDF of the page with the announcement.
Otherwise, you can open the whole ‘View from Ventress’ file online, opened to that page here. I think the college was very kind with this announcement. On top of that, I think they did a lovely job making the announcement, connecting with the substance of my work. That took care and sincere interest. I feel fortunate and motivated to pass along to others appreciation for what they do, given that it’s nice when folks make that effort.
“Race and Moral Leadership in the U.S. Judicial System,” open forum discussion
“District Judge Carlton Reeves has presided over key race and equality cases in Mississippi.” (NPR) Photo by Jackson State University.
Where: Bryant Hall room 207, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
U.S. Judge Carlton Reeves of Mississippi caught national attention with a speech he prepared for the sentencing in a murder trial. The case concerned the racially motivated murder of James Craig Anderson. Reeves’s speech has been called “breathtaking” on NPR.org and has been viewed well over a million times. NPR published a short bio about “The Man Behind the Speech.”
Reeves’s position and leadership are special in part because of his position as a judge. We often think of executives or legislators as leaders. Judges also exercise leadership in their own unique ways and contexts, however. Reeves’s example is also special because of the context of his leadership and the location and circumstances of it. We will have an open forum discussion about “Race and Moral Leadership in the U.S. Judicial System” in Bryant Hall room 207 on Tuesday, October 27th, at 4pm.
Dr. Eric Thomas Weber, associate professor of Public Policy Leadership at the University of Mississippi, will be moderating the discussion.
This forum is free and open to all students, faculty, staff, and community members. Anyone needing accommodations related to disabilities, contact Dr. Eric Thomas Weber at etweber@olemiss.edu.
I was thinking about coffee because I love it, and a silly idea struck me. I’m not a quantitative researcher and the silly activity I spent a few minutes on this morning is utterly unscientific and drawn from sources that confer no serious credibility. Therefore, I urge anyone looking at this not to cite it in any kind of research or writing, unless you’re writing about silliness.
I wondered whether one could show some correlation between growth in coffee consumption and economic growth. Selecting out an inconvenient year before my chart starts, I got a bit of a correlation. Both go up! See?!
It gave me a chuckle, so I thought I’d share. Even if it’s just a silly thought to make me feel better about my dependency on coffee…
The Clinton School for Public Service at the University of Arkansas Little Rock does a nice job of getting the word out about their speakers series. Here’s an announcement in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazetteabout my upcoming talk on Uniting Mississippi, which will be on October 19th at noon in Sturgis Hall.
The announcement has details about the where and when, and an email address plus phone number for anyone who’d like to reserve seats.
I have again had the great opportunity to give an interview for reporter Javad Hieran-Nia of The Tehran Times, Iran’s major English-language newspaper. I feel honored to have my interview again land the first page of the paper. The image on right is of the front page, but is also a link to a printable Adobe PDF version of the piece, which I edited onto one page. You can alternatively click here or on the title of the piece below for the same linked file.
