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Essay

Ordinary Dust Essay

Ordinary Dust

Tuesday morning I entered the classroom with a strange, nagging, feeling.  I couldn't shake it... the feeling that things weren't going to go well. I asked the students to read the first chapter of Christopher Hitchens' book God is Not Great so we could talk about Descartes, modernity,…
Jason Lief
October 9, 2015
Sophie and Francis Essay

Sophie and Francis

Two students, two separate occasions, both brought to tears with just a simple question: “How are you doing?” I really don’t seek out people’s problems… they just break in. It’s what happens when life overwhelms, especially for new students trying to figure out college life.…
Jason Lief
September 25, 2015
Bob’s Bar Essay

Bob’s Bar

A couple of Fridays ago some friends and I took the hour long trip to an off the beaten path "dive bar" in Nebraska—Bob's Bar in Martinsburg, Nebraska. As you can see in the photo above it's not much to look at from the outside. Even when…
Jason Lief
September 11, 2015
I Owe My Life to VBS Essay

I Owe My Life to VBS

Have you ever looked back on your life and connected the dots, only to discover one particular moment that set you on your current path? I'm talking about a moment that if it had gone a different way would have meant an entirely different life. I was thinking…
Jason Lief
July 31, 2015
Ad-Vocate Essay

Ad-Vocate

"Contrary to what people often think, the key to easing people's suffering is not in offering some insidious theodicy, but in allowing a place for people to mourn, and to meet others who know what it is to have been burned by that same black…
Jason Lief
June 19, 2015
The Beauty of Baseball Essay

The Beauty of Baseball

In my former life as a high school teacher I was a coach. For 10 years I coached baseball at every level—freshman, junior varsity, and finally varsity. I wasn't the greatest coach in the world, but I wasn't the worst either. We won some big…
Jason Lief
June 5, 2015