Category: Peace
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
CATEGORIES
April 10, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
We watched Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, … and Spring for the final film in the HMU Winter Film Series. What a film with gorgeous scenery and a wonderful narrative!
As the title would indicate, the film opens in springtime. A boy forages on a mountainside while his master, a Buddhist monk, goes into town for some supplies.
February 7, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Last year at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association conference what started out as a discussion on adventure novels turned into a discussion of why popular culture circles have stopped writing about war. This conference alone used to hold numerous War and Culture panels. These have dwindled in recent years. I find this astonishing considering that there are at least a dozen major conflicts in the world right now.
June 14, 2024
Thanks to John Wiley, a 2024 HMU Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
“Thy word can bring a sweet relief for ev’ry pain I feel.”[1] Anne Steele desperately clung to beliefs like this throughout her life. For Steele, her pains went well beyond the lines of poetry, as this Baptist hymn writer from the eighteenth century suffered from chronic illness combined with what appeared to be volatile mental health as well.
July 16, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Likely you are already familiar with the image of Olympics rings, the symbol of the Olympic Games. First introduced in 1913, it has become a ubiquitous representation of sports across continents. Based on a design by Pierre de Coubertin, the rings represent the five participating continents of the time. The colors exhibit at least one color from every participating nation’s flags.
January 29, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
“It is not easy to realize the serene joy of all the earth, when she commences to shine unobstructedly, unless you have often been abroad alone in moonlight nights.” – Henry David Thoreau
Discussions this month focused on Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Night and Moonlight” combined with Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic.” Both pieces propose a journey into nature,
February 14, 2020
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Natasha Trethewey’s poem “Myth,” from Native Guard, beautifully describes what it is like to seek the impossible. Trethewey wrote the poem as an expression of sorrow at the loss of her mother. Written as a palindrome, it is a perfect representation of loss because the poem cycles again and again, beginning and ending in the same place much like the endless cycle of loss.
August 3, 2018
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Each quarter, Harrison Middleton University hosts a Quarterly Discussion. This discussion is open to students and non-students alike. They focus on a short text which everyone reads prior to the discussion. I thoroughly enjoy these because they give me a chance to break away from my own studies, to focus on something in a small group which is a great listening opportunity.
June 15, 2018
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
“A wise man always eats well.” – Chinese proverb
MFK Fisher (a friend and contemporary of Julia Child) first published How to Cook a Wolf in 1942 in the midst of World War II. The book deals with domestic stresses during war time, especially those related to food rations. The essays deal with economic purchasing and energy savings,
October 27, 2017
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
In most cases, letter writing became fashionable only after the establishment of a postal service. However, state business has been conducted via the written letter since the beginning of formal governments. Our most recent Quarterly Discussion focused on six different letters from the likes of Seneca all the way up to George H. W. Bush. We looked at Leonardo da Vinci’s job application in the form of a letter to the Duke of Milan.
January 13, 2017
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Common, “A Dream”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the most vocal and prolific proponents of a path to peace through nonviolence. He fought with words and love and forgiveness, instead of fear and anger. He responded to death threats, violence and hatred with patience and understanding.