Stop, collaborate, and listen: a conference on the future of education

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The Florida Council of Theological Schools is a group of schools in South Florida. They recently had their first kick-off meeting, and I was invited with a couple of colleagues from school!

I had to get up early on a Saturday and drive down to Knox Theological Seminary in beautiful (not) Fort Lauderdale, but it was worthwhile to connect with folks who share a similar mission to ours. By bringing us together, the conference underscored John Donne’s line (1572–1631) that no man is an island. I also used the opportunity to proselytize folks to play soccer with (against) us.

 The Lilly Endowment Grant, funded as part of its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the pressing challenges they face in preparing pastoral leaders for Christian congregations now and into the future. Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Being able to meet folks and discuss common issues was very enriching, and the fact that we have established the framework to continue this conversation was the cherry on top, and if I get some soccer games out of it, even better.

So yes, you might be swamped with work, and our Saturdays are cherished, but if you get the opportunity to collaborate with people in your field, I recommend you go for it! You are welcome.

The Taft Museum of Art, a hidden treasure.

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As I mentioned last week, while I was in Cincinnati, I had planned to visit the Taft Museum of Art upon arrival, but since I landed late on Thursday, I had to skip the conference on Saturday to go to the museum (Shhh, don’t tell anyone). I particularly wanted to see Goya’s Queen Maria Luisa, but I was pleasantly surprised to see many other jewels: a Turner, a Fortuny, and many other pieces. Unfortunately, two portraits by Madrazo were out on loan.  On the other hand, they were hosting a phenomenal exhibit of Rembrandt’s prints. I was deeply moved by The Return of the Prodigal Son and by Abraham and Jacob. A nice exhibit included all the tools and elements used to make prints, which helped me to understand the process of printmaking.

The Goya did not disappoint. The queen is radiant in her jewels and outfit. There is something about her gaze, is it mischief? Is it arrogance? One wonders… Unfortunately, the piece is hanging at the end of a corridor, not the best placement for arguably the best piece in the collection; maybe that is where Taft put her, but that is still no excuse. Lesser paintings are better positioned within the museum.

The museum is housed in Taft’s beautiful ancestral mansion, which has lovely grounds, a courtyard, a nice little gift shop, and a coffee shop, where I enjoyed a perfect cup of coffee.

If you are in Cincinnati and need a brief escape, a respite from the city, this is your place. You are welcome.

Oh, and if you want to see the process of printmaking, here is a cinematic version from the great film, Goya’s Ghosts. Enjoy.

Cincinatti, an underrated city and a great university

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One of the blessings of being an academic (even a bad one like me) is being able to present at academic conferences. I have spent the last few months working on an academic project, and it was time to present it to the world, so I chose the oldest graduate student-run conference on Romance languages and literatures: the Cincinnati Conference on Romance and Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Cincinnati.

My first surprise? Hills! (South Florida is lacking in that department.) I walked and walked. After dropping off my bag at the hotel, across the street from campus, I arrived at the colorful and pretty Over the Rhine neighborhood. The first big group of immigrants to arrive in Cincinnati was German—the Ohio River reminded them of the Rhine…, so there is a distinct German feel to the city, including many breweries. I stopped at Rheingeist, which was amazing, after seeing Findlay Market, the squares, the Music Hall, and the Ohio River with its great bridges, especially the Roebling Bridge. I ended my evening at a dive bar, my favorite place to get a sense of a place. Everyone I met was super friendly—a characteristic of medium and smaller cities, especially in the Midwest

The conference was fantastic. My panel had the best turnout I have ever had! The campus is beautiful, and the building housing the Romance and Arabic Language Department is a great, unique place. I was really impressed with the level of the university, the department, and the presenters!

The keynote speakers were the cherry on top! Ana Davila Cardinal is a hilarious Hispanic novelist, and Kaouther Adimi is a brilliant Algerian author. The reception after, in a hip bar, was fun and social.

On Saturday, I played hooky and walked to the Taft Museum of Art, but that’s for a separate blog post.

Peligro de extinción, el safari poético de Luis Correa-Díaz y Gustavo Denault

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Hace años que soy fan de la obra de Luis Correa-Díaz; he tenido el placer y el privilegio de leerle. Este último poemario, Peligro de extinción; Endangered Species (Speech-less) Act, puede ser su más íntimo y tierno.

Parte de esto se debe a la colaboración de un ilustrador de lujo. Gus Denault es un joven artista que nos regala ilustraciones primorosas a lápiz/carboncillo para cada poema.

El abanico de veintinueve animales en peligro de extinción que repasan el poeta y el artista va desde lo obvio, como el panda rojo o el delfín rosado, hasta otros como la sirena o el propio Homo, que quizás no figuren en listas oficiales, pero que obligan al lector a pausar y reflexionar, Otros animales, como el mamut, el pterodáctilo o el tamagotchi, dan licencia para volar a la imaginación del lector. Como dice Menchu Gutiérrez del ilustrador de su poemario Huésped del otro, Pedro Pertejo: “Los poemas no existirían sin los dibujos.”*

Como es habitual, LCD nos regala referencias a Ulises o a Rimbaud; otras hay que pillarlas al vuelo, como la del Quijote o la de su alumno, Almodóvar, todas salpimentadas con emojis, con detalles cotidianos de Athens (el de Georgia y REM, no el original, aunque Aristóteles lo quisiera) y a la patria querida de Luis y de Gabriela Mistral.

Luis Correa-Díaz aborda el delicado tema de la situación crítica del planeta con exquisito cariño, pero también con guiños irónicos y críticos al ecoturismo y a las entidades responsables de cuidarlo. Es decir, con realismo; las ilustraciones de Gus le dan fondo, textura y color (aunque sean a blanco y negro) al texto.

  • Entrevista Menchu Gutiérrez. Esto es lo último, El Cultural. 26 diciembre 2025.

10 years since my PhD hooding, I miss Carolina.

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Since January of 2025, I have not been able to watch the news. I used to watch them the next morning while I prepared my breakfast. Nowadays, I get my news in the key of humor from the late-night hosts: Colbert, Myers, and Kimmel.

Jimmy Kimmel does this joke at the beginning of every month, where they show all the news anchors incredulously welcoming in the new month: “Can you believe it’s February?” and so forth every month.

Well, can you believe it has been 10 years since I got my PhD? I can’t!

While it has flown by, a lot has happened. I went back to teaching (and coaching) high school, mostly because I love the energy of youth, and secondly, I guess, because it was my comfort zone. Then I moved back to Spain, started teaching at the university level at the European School of Economics in Madrid, and found that college-level students’ maturity was just as enriching as that of high school kids. I founded my tour company, Tonxo Tours. Returned to Florida six years ago to continue teaching (and coaching!).

But those four years in Chapel  Hill were marvelous. Granted, I have never worked so hard in my life, but that is part of why I enjoyed it so much; I had a mission, and that gave me clarity of mind and focus.

I loved Chapel Hill, the community I was able to build: my academic group, professors, my amazing dissertation director, Prof. Gómez Castellano, classmates, and students. My volunteering community at the Ronald McDonald House, and of course, my social life at church, Zog’s, and even the Ackland Museum. They were four wonderful years that I celebrate.

I love going back to visit whenever I get the chance. Chapel Hill is home.

Now, looking back, I realize that in the madness of wrapping up, moving, starting a new job, etc., I never uploaded photos of my hooding ceremony. Well, ask no more! Voila!

Brain rot is real. Get off the couch. Publishing academic articles.

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Hispanófila article

Trust me, I know the feeling well. You get home from work, exhausted, and the last thing you want to do is go to the gym, go for a walk, or cook; you want to watch TV, or worse, social media.

The trick? Do something that makes you feel better when you are done, visualize the result: a better body, a delicious dinner, or pretty much any result is better than any time spent on the couch.

Something that motivates me is getting to publish in an academic journal. It is difficult for me to write academically—I much prefer this light stuff—but seeing your article published is a dopamine hit that no amount of “likes” can match. In my six years here, this is my third article published (check out the other two here and here). Sure, it takes me about 2 years per article. I know that for academics at big research universities, publishing is their job; they have to publish day in and day out, so it is not a big deal for them. But I am not at a research university; I do this for fun, not for work.

This article explores how three young, up-and-coming Basques borrowed Francisco de Isla’s name to promote their book. In the article, I prove that Isla is not the real author of the book, even though it is still attributed to him, and explain how, by doing so, the three Basque authors are actually paying homage to him.

Below is the abstract. You can find the article through the usual academic databases! Enjoy!!

PS: If you do not have access to academic databases, message me for a copy of the article.

PS: Oh, and thanks to Sister Mary for another great photo!

Aldeanos criticos

Luis Correa-Díaz, La región Antártica famosa, un viaje al polo

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La region antártica famosa LCD

Los lectores asiduos de este blog verán que reseño con frecuencia a Luis Correa-Díaz. ¿Por qué? Porque disfruto de su lectura.

LCD escribe de manera que parece fácil y casual, lo que hace que este lector se sienta cómodo al leer. La realidad es que los poemas de Correa-Díaz esconden el oficio y el esmero de años, de estudio y, sobre todo, de vida.

La región antártica famosa es un claro ejemplo de esto. LCD nos brinda, al mismo tiempo, una historia, una geografía de la región y una oración ecológica salpimentada con emojis y códigos QR.

Lo que parece un flujo de conciencia, un monólogo interior, es una construcción narrativa en verso. Con esa soltura mencionada, LCD habla de Derek Walcott (a quien conocí, pero eso es para otro blog) o de William Blake, Neruda o Borges. Correa-Díaz nos lleva desde la Araucana hasta Byrd, de Darwin a Espronceda y de Jorge Manrique a Benjamín Labatut y todo con ritmo de ranchera, de Metallica o de Kiss.

En estos versos que se leen como prosa, en estas frases que hacen malabares con la metonimia y la metáfora, en estas referencias ad hoc, el lector se pierde en la Antártica para entenderla.

Con ocasión de la reciente Cincinnati Conference on Romance and Arabic Languages and Literatures, charlaba con la genial autora Nuyorican Ann Dávila Cardinal sobre el spanglish y la responsabilidad de usarlo con naturalidad y tranquilidad. Correa-Díaz es estandarte del uso del spanglish; esta espontaneidad otorga a los versos de LCD un significado secreto que únicamente pueden descifrar lectores bilingües.

La región antártica famosa es un gran ejemplo de la literatura de Luis Correa-Díaz, de aparente lectura fácil, pero que esconde un oficio y una técnica preciosista y elegante.

It’s all Greek to me. A visit to the Greek Orthodox festival at St. Mark in Boca Raton.

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Percy Bysshe Shelley, the great British Romantic poet (his wife Mary, also fairly famous) said it much better than I ever could:

“We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have their root in Greece.”

― Percy Bysshe Shelley

You see,  pretty much all of our society is structured around a tiny country on the Mediterranean from 3000 years ago. Yes, our democracy, our schools, our art, and our humanism all derive from Greece.

I fell in love with Greece during my first visit in 1984, so it should not be a surprise that I am a fan of everything Greek, including the Greek Orthodox Church. When you are in the islands or remote areas of Greece on a Sunday, you go to the Greek Orthodox church.

On the occasion of the Greek festival at St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton, we recently had the opportunity to take a group of students on a visit. We attended vespers, enjoyed a great Greek dinner, and then had a tour of the Church. I really felt at home. Fr. Mark was incredibly approachable, didactic, funny, and really made us feel at home. He answered even the stickiest theological questions with grace and wisdom.

The church is amazing, and their festival and food were equally great, but seeing the students learn about the Church before the Great Schism in 1054 CE, in person rather than from a book, was priceless!

Book the dates for next year’s Greek Festival at St. Mark in Boca. You are welcome!

Shelley

Eric Giroux’s foray into the short story (and the essay), Clare’s Boutique.

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Clare’s Boutique by Eric Giroux

This is so commonplace, so threadbare that I am embarrassed, but Eric Giroux’s Clare’s Boutique proves that good things come in small packages. Yes, I’m unoriginal, sorry.

Clare’s Boutique is also Giroux’s third book, so I could also say that good things come in threes, but I won’t. Clare’s Boutique consists of three short stories and an essay, according to him, although it reads more like a brief memoir. The stories, like his previous novels, are set in North Massachusetts, the gritty, post-industrial town of Lowell. Like his previous novels, Giroux continues to explore coming-of-age stories, only this time in a more challenging short-story form.

I have written before about the challenge of the short story (here), the craftsmanship needed to develop characters and narrative in a condensed space. Bravo to Giroux for pulling it off, not an easy task, but he does it with apparent ease and panache!

The addition of an essay gives a “behind the scenes” aspect to the stories, like you have a backstage pass at a concert. The vulnerability and courage to allow us to glimpse “the making of” give the stories further depth and texture.

Full disclosure: Giroux and I taught together many years ago in an artsy, suburban New England prep school. The conversations I remember most with him involved his cinema class and the topics he covered. I remember recommending Un Chien Andalou for his unit on Surrealism!

If you want to read my other reviews of Eric’s work, click here and here.

Photo credit: Sister Mary

The human aspect of coaching

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Coaching soccer is one of my favorite things to do after school. You go out and work with the students outside the classroom. I love it so much, I have been coaching for about 20 years on and off. Although I have also coached tennis and even a season of fencing! Soccer, with its team dynamics, is the most difficult but also the most rewarding to coach.

The technical aspects are fairly easy; players have a “natural position” that they subconsciously tend to. Seeing players find this position is very fulfilling. Game plans and strategies are all easy enough. As usual, the human aspect is the most difficult, dealing with upset players who are not on the starting lineup, players who you pull off the field in a substitution, etc.

On game day, the players wear their jerseys to build up their confidence and feel proud of being on the team. Then we have lunch together to talk soccer, joke, and enjoy a meal together. I also make sure they are on the field to warm up at least 45 minutes before the game, so we are not rushing through the pre-game rituals, warm-ups, photos, chats, etc.

At the beginning of the season, we spend a lot of time building the team, making sure everybody knows everybody, making sure they are bonding through games, scrimmaging, and activities. I am convinced that the time spent doing these bonding activities pays off handsomely later in the season.

The most challenging bit is motivating a team after a loss. I find that talking individually to each of the players, encouraging them, supporting them, and talking through the game is an effective way of being there for them, of letting them vent and process the loss. Yes, it is time-consuming, but the players really appreciate your involvement and commitment. Remember, it is up to us to model behavior, to be fair and honest, to be frank, to explain things honestly but diplomatically. This was the case recently when we lost 0-1 to our archrival in Miami.