The Random Thoughts of Louis Schmier

I was sweeping the patio when Susan came out with the telephone receiver in her hand, “It’s a student.” “Why would a student call me on a Saturday afternoon?” I whispered. She shrugged her shoulders as I put the receiver to my ear. I wasn’t ready for what I was about to hear. “Dr. Schmier, [...]

Last Thursday, during our “what do you want to know about me” question session in class when students ask me any questions about me, a student asked, “Where do you get all your energy?” Without thinking, I heard myself say, “I’m faith in action. This class is a ‘faith based class!’” Some of the students [...]

I went out this morning, darting between the drops of a quiet rain. My walk this morning was a more intense “just to…” meditative time than usual. My brother’s funeral last week and the getting the juices flowing in readiness for the beginning of the semester Monday have placed me in a particularly pensive mood. [...]

“Emotion, especially love, does not belong in the intellectual setting of the classroom. Spirituality in academe? We’re not in church, you know!” a professor proclaimed in an e-mail this morning. I couldn’t let his declared admonishment go unanswered, for hers was not a lone voice. However I respect her position, and perhaps understand it, I [...]