Things are getting interesting. As it happens, I assigned students in my course on Grand Strategy broad regions of the globe for which they are responsible: South East Asia, Europe, Latin America, etc. One of their big assignments is a Marshall brief on the region. But they have to give up dates during the term. So we’ve all been watching this pandemic unfold in more or less real time as it spreads from China to Asia to Europe and the like.

Well, how do you like that. I got a tenure track job. Moving to Tempe in the fall.

Earlier this month I defended my dissertation and submitted all paperwork to complete my PhD. It has been a long time coming and I am obviously glad to be finished. My dissertation examined the development of international religious freedom and U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. In it I make a very simple claim that efforts to promote religious freedom have been present in American national security strategy for much longer than most realize.

A different introduction to Government This semester I decided to take a different approach to the early introduction to my American government class, really for all my teaching. I usually begin my classes with something I call “the mini-lecture”, a short 5 minute (or less) outline of a key concept that doesn’t actually fit within the confines of the material but which will help the students learn to grasp the materials easier or produce better academic work overall.

This is not a workflow post. I don’t normally post about process or things related to my workflow because, having tried in the past, have concluded that it is more of a procrastination tactic than anything else. Even my post about switching to Hugo for webhosting was written for me rather than anyone else. You don’t care about my workflow. You have your own. You don’t need to know how I produce what I do.