David Durham

It was a really hot day and  Kaldi  the Ethiopian shepherd was resting in the shade. He looked up and saw that his goats were acting strangely -- it was like they were dancing. He then discovered they had been munching on some nearby berries Kaldi didn't recognize. To his chagrin, the goats didn't particularly want to sleep that night.

Is there something magic about the first day of a new year? Does anything really change in your daily life? Is it as easy as flipping a switch to bring in a new set of circumstances, thoughts, or beliefs?

You wouldn't be wrong if you called me a fair weather fan, whether it be for our Tennessee Titans or our Nashville SC pro soccer team. But when the World Cup comes along every four years, I sit up and pay attention, perhaps more this year than ever before.

Why are so many of the so-called "virtue names" -- the top ones being Faith, Hope, and Joy -- given almost exclusively to females?

Is there something particularly feminine about possessing any of these qualities?

Very few of us would argue with the idea that we're shaped by our culture. Just ask the parent of a kid who spends hours and hours playing video games. And why do we feel the need to dress in style? Where did the phrase "You do you" come from? Culture is based on ideas. And these ideas had to come from somewhere. At some point, someone had an idea rooted in a value -- something they considered important and worthy of devotion.

I've heard a number of people say they've stopped listening to the news because it's so depressing. I get it. If we are tempted to look back on a time that seemed particularly peaceful to us, it might be because we personally weren't facing challenging circumstances, or maybe because things were relatively peaceful in our surroundings, including in whatever country we live in.

One of these great issues of our time is the worldwide refugee crisis. Don't let anyone tell you there are easy answers to the refugee question, let alone the broader, pressing immigration issue. Where we come down on the issue with our students, whatever theirs or our political bent, is this: If they're here, they deserve our kindness and respect and have stories we can learn from.

I'm sure your attention has also been captivated, as mine has, by this week's passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in the history of Britain. I would be out of my league trying to fully explain the reasons for our fascination with the Royal Family and its accompanying pomp and circumstance; what follows are simply some random thoughts as I process the week's events.

My wife is rereading the second book in the series to prepare for Louise Penny's upcoming novel in which she apparently alludes to things in the earlier books. One of the great things about marriage is having someone to share gold nuggets with when they are discovered. My wife shared this nugget with me this morning, which resonates with me as someone who is consistently burdened by the polarization of our culture.

It's back to school time, and my wife and I are looking forward to welcoming a new group of Global Studies students. One of the requirements of this course, which we designed ourselves a few years ago, is a certain number of what we call field hours. Field hours are local experiences that take them not only outside their normal routine, but more importantly, outside their zone of familiarity.