On October 26th, 2024, I had the pleasure of discussing a very contentious subject: “Women in Power: Gynocracy and Gynophobia,” with the critical theorist, Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert. November 2024 could see the election of the U.S.’s first woman president. Or, it could see the re-election of Donald J. Trump, who has not only a long record of misogyny and adultery, has also been adjudicated to have engaged in “sexual assault” against E. Jean Carroll, and has been accused of much more by many other women. The rise of women to powerful positions has caused a backlash in the “manosphere,” wherein many men, born of deep-seated insecurities and fears, are not prepared to see a women in the most powerful position in the world. Feeling emasculated, they have retreated into a juvenile form of masculinity, one that politicizes the historical gender antagonisms. Dr. Siebert and I believe it is important to work for a democratic relationship between genders, steered on the principle of equality, as opposed to one that privileges one gender over the other in the family, civil society, and the state. This discourse was sponsored by Ekpyrosis Press and the Institute for Critical Social Theory.

On August 24th, I had the great pleasure to speak with the critical theorist, dialectical religiologist, and theologian, Rudolf J. Siebert, to talk about political violence. Spawned by the latest attempt to assassinate the former U.S. President, Donald J. Trump, we discussed the long history of political violence and assassinations, the reasons why they continue to happen, and the potential for future violence in the name of political change. This discourse was sponsored by Ekpyrosis Press and the Institute for Critical Social Theory.

On April 17th, 2024, I was awarded two important awards at The University of Olivet: 1) Doctors Gorton and Peggy Riethmiller Award for Excellence in Teaching, and 2) the Presidential Distinguished Medalist – Most Influential Professor. The first is voted upon by the student body, and the second is given by a top five graduate of the senior class. I was nominated for the latter by Chelsea Wiltse, one of my Philosophy and Religious Studies students. Below is me at Convocation with Sydney Lynch, one of my very gifted and talented students, as well as a dinner I had with The University of Olivet President Steven Corey and Kelly Corey, with my students, Chelsey Wiltse, Taylor Darhower, Garrett Ennis, Sydney Lynch, and Sarah Zaharian, as well as my wife.