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Cowboy Conservatism and Budgetary Madness
When I moved to Alberta, I thought that I would encounter a few “Cowboy Conservatives”. You know the type: white pick-up trucks, acreages, kind-hearted neighborliness, and an arms-length relationship with local aboriginal populations. They may be tied to oil-money. They may even feel a bit uneasy with vegetables and say an occasionally cruel comment about Continue reading
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Love Your Neighbor – A Meditation
” by attending to the needs of himself and others, Wayne practiced eternal life here on Earth” Continue reading
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A Deeper Cliche
When someone uses capital letters incorrectly in official documents, we tend to think of the writer as having missed a lesson from their elementary school Language Arts class. They may also be conforming to the format of texting out of context. In reviewing student writing for a living, I find misused capitalization to be a Continue reading
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Hints and Allegations
“the overlooked habits in human beings’ interactions with one another will also rear their ugly, destructive, and malicious effects on the world around us and within us. Unconscious habits will emerge because we have too often overlooked them, and they will appear and be treated as hints and allegations that exist on the periphery of… Continue reading
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The Cosmic Restoration (Part 2)
When I was a kid, my family would get ready for church on Sunday mornings. After cooking breakfast, and making sure all the kids would get up on time, get dressed into something respectable, and be ready to head out the door, my mom used to jokingly say, “now it is time for me to Continue reading
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The Beginning of Cosmic Restoration (Part 1)
I shovelled my neighbor’s driveway. His name is Wayne, and he is my “good” neighbor. Well, actually, I borrowed Wayne’s snowblower and ran it over his driveway, my driveway, and by turn of mind, my “bad” neighbor’s driveway as well. The “bad” neighbor, has dogs; we have cats. He plays hockey; I play basketball. He Continue reading
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Awareness in the Light of Christ
Message preached at Fellowship Christian Reformed Chruch, Edmonton, AB January 6, 2019. “Christmas comes even in the midst of rubble.” Those words were written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his parents on November 29, 1940. From his monastic haven in the Benedictine community at Ettal, Bonhoeffer was keenly aware of the “rubble” in which the Feast of the Continue reading
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From Doing to Being: What Stories do we tell Ourselves?
Message preached at Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, Edmonton, AB, Canada, October 14, 2018. (Please note that the biblical passages this is based on come after the text of the sermon.) In the Gospel of Mark, we find recorded a story about a rich man, who by his own account, is law-abiding. Surely, measured by every Continue reading
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Professional Learning Communities
A Professional Learning Community is an orientation of large organizations toward constant improvement. It tries to balance individual development within an institutional structure. This is a remarkable development in educational theory and practice that could be implemented outside educational contexts as well. Creating a Mission Statement The first step in developing a professional learning community Continue reading
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Authenticity and Academic Writing
Today, I want to flesh out a little of the idea of writing in one’s own voice. Academic writers, and instructors of academic writing, will assert this. We have looked at asserting “one’s own stance” and in effect will develop one’s own research topics. But what does it mean to develop one’s own stance? This Continue reading
About me: I am a career educator and traveler at heart. My written work includes academic writing in philosophy and linguistics, English acquisition, and most intently in the areas of spiritual engagement with reality and what that means for our public lives.
My education is a mixture of formal study in philosophy, political theory, Biblical studies, and history, along with professional teaching certification in TESOL and in cognitive testing, and international teaching.
My travel experiences include a range of countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. I have lived in Canada, the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand. From those places I have traveled to many others besides.
I am a child of the 70’s and a “family man.” That means I have two wonderful kids who have been round the world with me.
Lastly, I am married to a wonderful woman since 2004. She is my partner, my friend, and my muse.
Thanks again for stopping by,
Raymond Klassen - Ideals and Identities 