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Practically Idealistic blog
 
The title for this blog originated with use of the term “practical idealist” in this 1996 opinion piece, which asked: “To what kind of work should a practical idealist aspire?” A century and a half earlier, Emerson, in his 1841 essay Circles, wrote: “There are degrees in idealism.  We learn first to play with it academically. . . .  Then we see in the heyday of youth and poetry that it may be true, that it is true in gleams and fragments.  Then, its countenance waxes stern and grand, and we see that it must be true.  It now shows itself ethical and practical.”  John Dewey and Mahatma Gandhi embraced practical idealism in the 20th century, as did UN Secretary General U Thant.  Al Gore invoked it in a 1998 speech. In the context of this blog, the term is meant to convey idealism tempered but not overwhelmed by realism: a search for the ideal on a path guided by common sense.
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Thursday, November 30, 2023

Considering a "Crisis" during Adoption Month

Nodding to a recent Dalio Education-commissioned report on "Connecticut's Unspoken Crisis" of "disconnected" or "at-risk" individuals ages 14-26, my recent opinion piece appeared in the Connecticut Mirror and the New Haven Register, among other Hearst CT Media outlets.

The piece is also available via Medium, part of a series published there over the years.
8:14 am est 


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