Teaching Another Generation: https://davoh.org/2026/08/05/teaching-another-generation.html
Dave O’Hara
@davoh.bsky.social
Professor of Philosophy, Religion, Classics, and Environmental Studies. I study fish and forests, and the cultural ideas that connect them. Current home: South Dakota. Former homes: NY, VT, NM, PA, España. Canon for Creation Care, Episcopal Diocese of SD.
In which I talk about the joy of building furniture with and for my son and his wife. If you know how to do something, try to teach it to someone else. Such a good use of our lives.
Dave O’Hara@davoh.bsky.social · 2d agoHandiwork: https://davoh.org/2026/08/03/handiwork.html
These are both called “weeds.” Seems like botanical slander to me. I am happy to have them in my garden. #asclepias
Wings shredded, still able to fly. Green darner dragonfly, near the northern edge of the prairie coteau in South Dakota. Anax junius.
Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach: https://davoh.org/2026/07/30/parker-palmer-the-courage-to.html
This shirt I am wearing this morning is a nice memento of how I spent my summer.
New book arrival. I need all the help I can get, and books are one of my most reliable sources of help. Hoggarth has written a lot that has been valuable to me as I’ve learned about the native freshwater mussels of North America.
Coffee in the garden this morning, listening to the wrens scold the dog as he makes his rounds. I’ve built my garden in part so the dog has lots of places to explore. It’s a small garden but he finds lots of ways to amuse himself. One of those ways, evidently, involves annoying the wrens.
New books in today’s mail. Good times ahead. Especially excited about the new mussel ecology book!
"Wyoming will become the first state in the US where you cannot receive a B.A. in Philosophy."
University of Wyoming to Drop Philosophy Major - Daily Nous
As for Fall 2027, incoming students at the University of Wyoming will no longer be allowed to major in philosophy. The news was shared by philosophy professor Bradley Rettler in posts on social media. He says that students will be able to major in "philosophy and religion" but not "philosophy" nor "religious studies". Rettler points
dailynous.com
“Sooner or later, elite schools are going to realize that an analog education carries more prestige than an AI-assisted one & will retool their curricula..to reflect that prejudice. This has .. already happened with screens in elementary and secondary education” hedgehogreview.com/issues/the-f...
Artificial Negligence
Faculty sense that AI could make old-fashioned teaching and learning much more difficult to achieve, if not obsolete.
hedgehogreview.com
Five years ago this month I was teaching my students how to survive in the wilderness during a three week nature writing course in backcountry Alaska. Such good memories!
Two hummingbirds on one of my garden trellises. I made the trellises from 16’ cattle panels, and use them to grow beans, pumpkins, and grapes. And of course some clematis and morning glories.
Today a friend interviewed me for his podcast, and he asked if we could dedicate to to his former teacher, my colleague who died last week. This made my heart glad. You might like his “Awkwardly Awesome” podcast: jasonwfreeman.com/podcast/
It may be surprising to some that there are thousands of undescribed species just sitting in museums awaiting description. One of the main reasons this problem exists is that taxonomy is undervalued and underfunded, a trend that coincides with the devaluing of studies on natural history.
Holding a pine cone with one hand while sketching it with the other. Nature is full of delights.
When life gives you ticks, that means you have a new species to sketch!
Pocket notebooks. “Have you pen and ink, Master Doctor?” “A scholar is never without them, your Majesty,” answered Doctor Cornelius. – C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, ch. 13
Morning sketch: yellow-bellied marmot in the Paha Sapa (Black Hills) of South Dakota.
Morning breakfast at M. B. Haskett in Sioux Falls with @dswanson. Hopefully the first of many more conversations and shared meals.
