Two days of Richard Paul's tutoring and I have an ah-ha moment. I am in Berkeley, at the smashing Claremont Hotel, swimming in the Oxford Tutorial and listening and reasoning my way through the Elements of Thought, Universal Intellectual Standards, and Intellectual Traits. Monday, July 23, an op-ed piece I wrote for The New York Times appears. All my liberal colleagues and arts advocates praise me. (Feels great).
But I get slammed by a detractor. For once, I don't get mad. In fact, I don't even get flustered. In my reply, I asked him to clarify what he called my "discombobulated writing" because I, in fact, want to sharpen my thinking. He responds! And says on rereading the piece, it's not as bad as he thought. We dialogue through several more emails. By asking my opposition to "clarify" his thoughts for my benefit, we created dialogue.
Op-Ed Piece in International Herald Tribune, NYTimes affiliate...
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