Dustin Kidd

As the Oprah Winfrey show fades to black, I thought I'd share this poem I wrote about a year after college when I was living in London (1997). ------------------------ Me and Oprah Winfrey Ever since Princess Diana and Mother Theresa passed from hope into glory it's been just me and Oprah Winfrey out here saving the world. Oprah said to me, "Let's fight for the rights of impoverished children." And we did. Oprah said, "Let's encourage the spread of volunteerism." And we did. Oprah said, "Let's celebrate wonderful people the world over." And, of course, we did. When I turned in the sand to see the footprints behind, I noticed that when Jesus wasn't carrying me, Oprah was. Today, I am grateful for these five: 1) I am grateful for the opportunity to love God. 2) I am grateful for the privilege of loving others. 3) I am grateful for the joy of loving myself. 4) I am grateful for the responsibility of loving the earth. 5) I am grateful f...

As a newly tenured faculty member, I'm reflecting on what helped me the most in crossing this difficult bridge. Here's my top five. 1. Research: Do one big thing at a time. It's easy to feel like you need to achieve a million things: as many articles as possible, a book, book reviews, media interviews, conferences, edited volumes, research networks in your area. That can be a formula for actually accomplishing nothing. So pick one thing at a time to focus on. I struggled a lot with this, but at a key moment I put an article to the side and just focused on my book. So I suggest picking the most important thing to start with and going after that. If you're interest in writing a book, but struggling to get started, then write one article that can become a book chapter, and then write the book. If you're ready to go straight to the book, go for it. If you're really an article writer, write one at a time. A useful resource for me in the writing process has b...