Jay Matthews

We need to understand and accept that this is the psychological reality we are working with —and  we need to embrace the work of changing it for the better

So, why are we so drawn to labels? When we label ourselves, we are in essence joining a community built around that label... The downside, if we ever realize it, is that we lose our genuine selves...

To sit together as a community and acknowledge the truth of war or the truth of addiction or the truth of domestic violence or the truth of COVID — inasmuch as it reduces our sense of isolation, and inasmuch as it’s able to put into words, grammar, and syntax things that we thought only we had ever thought, let alone ever expressed, I think it can... See more

Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN— and here is the essence of all I’ve said— you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH.

In particular, the choice to valorize disruption and innovation sits uneasily with both the actual process of university education and the needs of careers that people will actually have. It’s also bad for society on net.

And I think that’s the essence of complementarity, that you have to view the world in different ways to do it justice, and the different ways can each be very rich, can each be internally consistent, can each have its own language and rules, but they may be mutually incompatible. And to do full justice to reality, you have to take both of them into... See more

The external factors that affect the health, makeup, and movement of forests are as complex as the forests themselves. The phenomenon of tree migration arises from interrelated and overlapping causes, such as changes in climate, past and present land use and management, the proliferation of native pests and plants, the introduction of non-native... See more