Thank you, and congratulations to the graduates and to Professor Nockleby. It’s a great honor to receive this award. Let’s start with a question. (I’m a law school professor after all.) What makes people genuinely happy? It’s not wealth, possessions, beauty, or youth. It’s meaningful connections –... read more
Petitions for Peace & Essays
Professor John Nockleby was one of our feature profiles on April 7, 2017. He spoke eloquently about his love for the diversity of Loyola Law School, proudly noting that we are the “United Nations” of law schools. Professor Nockleby also mentioned how his first-year tort class had proposed the... read more
Events over the last two years have illustrated how fragile our form of self-governance is. They remind me of the scene in J.M Barrie’s play “Peter Pan” where Tinkerbell drinks the poisoned “medicine” meant for Peter to save his life. Peter pleads for help. The only way to prevent her death is... read more
Lead Lined Future “I’ll go without water tonight.” That’s what I said when DC Water & Sewer Authority shut off water to all main campus facilities at American University for a 6-hour emergency test. This was inconvenient, but not life threatening as is the case in Flint where children face the... read more
I had just spent three hours in customs. I had waited in line, I was searched repeatedly, and I was hungry and tired from a four-hour flight. I barely made it with 15 minutes left for my connecting flight and all I was looking forward to was resting my head against the window near my window seat,... read more
A few weeks ago, I read Ambassador Daniel Fried’s valedictory speech upon retiring after 40 years with the Foreign Service of the US State Department, where he served under Presidents Bush (both of them), Clinton and Obama. It was both a tribute and a warning. His speech inspired me to write this... read more
A man in the front row of the congregation raised his hand to ask me a question. We were having a discussion about what interferes with our relationship with God. I signaled for him to speak. "Have you ever been incarcerated?" he asked me. "No, I haven't," I said. I paused. "Why... read more
#CalExit; #Secession; #Love. For months prior to our launching of this website, I scoured social media to try to find a glimmer of hope in the dueling barrage of attacks between conservatives and progressives. Although Trump may not have intended it, bigots were emboldened. For every action, there... read more