Note: After doing so this past Spring for an Intro to IR course, I again assigned an optional reflective essay, this time to my POLS 5660 US foreign policy course here at the University of Utah this Fall. It asked students to reflect on the events of 2020 (the pandemic, the protests, the US Presidential election, and whatever else they found noteworthy fr...  Read this >>

It was around mid-October when I likely got covid. I say likely because my test came back negative. However, for a variety of reasons (including what I describe in the paragraph below), and according to the doctors I spoke to, that test was most likely either a false negative, or it was done outside of the narrow time-frame in which tests best work. Anywa...  Read this >>

I lost perspective last week. Months of worries, large and small, combined with missing my family and I gave in to self-pity. Of course, the act of whining itself probably helped me get back on the brighter side. There is nothing good about the virus itself. I can, however, see some advantages within our new pandemic lifestyles. I am fortunate to have a...  Read this >>

If I hear some version of the saying “we are tired of the virus, but the virus is not tired” again anytime soon, I won’t be held responsible for my behavior. I know the saying is true. I know the reasons it gets repeated over and over. I’ve even said it to others. I also know I’m suffering from “pandemic fatigue.&rdquo...  Read this >>

The pandemic’s empty grocery store shelves have disturbed me since the start. All out of proportion, really. Early on, shortages of fresh meat, milk, and eggs were inconveniences, not disasters, because I had other foodstuffs to choose from. I never even ran out of toilet paper. More products are in stock today, though paper goods and cleaning suppl...  Read this >>

As we approach the end game of (this stage of) Brexit, and hopefully move toward the downward slope of the Covid pandemic, numerous interactions have had me thinking about citizenship. More often than not we think of citizenship as a marker of status – a title bestowed by sovereign decree that distinguishes one individual as a belonging subject and...  Read this >>

It is November and in Europe the 2nd wave is upon us, but not all of us. In fact, today it is predicted that where I live in the UK the official COVID-19 death toll will surpass 50,000 and yet I still (thankfully/*touches wood*) know no-one who has died 'with COVID-19'. Do you? Over the course of this year I have come to realise that my experience of the ...  Read this >>

Like many in global health, in political science and just generally everyone, it has been almost seven days of checking USA feeds for results and announcements. It has been a tumultous week in the US. Rarely has an election result in any single country produced fireworks in London, or church bells to be rung in France. It is fairly clear that the pandemic...  Read this >>

It has been a month since I flew to Korea, and England has entered into a second lockdown since this Thursday. People here do not talk about the pandemic much, neither do the media. COVID-19 news, except the daily number of cases and deaths, seemingly has been no longer in the front pages of the media. Instead, stupid quarrels in Korean politics and fine ...  Read this >>

Today, I did what I think is the most important thing I could do for my country at this point in history. No, not paying my taxes, or following the law, or teaching young people, or raising children to follow the law. Yes, I've done those things, and I'm too old to serve in the military. Rather, I stood in line for 90 minutes with people in my small Tenne...  Read this >>