Writer, educator, artist, thinker, traveler, adventurer
I spent a good portion of this past Saturday helping my wife with her small business. She is a master baker and makes a variety of Mediterranean breads and desserts. Her goodies are artisanal and high-end. She sells them each Saturday at a farmer’s market located in Boerne, Texas, a town with a large German-speaking … More Sacred Places
I’m a busy guy. I manage two writing centers at a community college in San Antonio, Texas, USA. That takes fifty hours per week. My wife has a business that I help with. I take care of her purchasing, public relations, and I occasionally assist her with sales. On top of all that, I write, … More Pardon Me While I Ramble
Note: This blog was originally published as an Op-Ed in the San Antonio Express-News. I’m republishing it here today because it relates nicely with Learning to Question: A Pedagogy of Liberation, a book I’m reading and one I wrote about in my most recent Pointless Overthinking blog. *** I am an American educator. My job … More Community Colleges Are Helping to Transform America
Some weeks ago, I checked out Learning to Question: A Pedagogy of Liberation, by Paulo Freire and Antonio Faundez, from the library at the college where I work. Yesterday, after having the book sit around unread since I’d taken it home, I decided the time was right and opened it up. I’m not far enough … More Participating in Something New and Special
What is your biggest frustration right now and what do you plan to do (if anything) to resolve this situation? (If you want, you can name more than one here.) I’ll go first. I’m frustrated that I have so few opportunities to wander the globe the way I used to. Plus, my current job monopolizes … More Question of the Day: Number 554
Not long ago, I wrote a piece about thinking that prompted lots of reaction. After publishing it, my mind moved on to other topics. Recently, though, like in the last couple of days or so, I started thinking about thinking again. As you can probably tell, thinking is one my favorite activities. We think for … More I’ve Been Doing Even More Thinking about Thinking
Several days ago, I invited my wife out for a meal at Hong Kong Harbor, a buffet-style restaurant that serves Chinese, Japanese, and Korean food. Toward the end of our time at the eatery, a waiter dropped off two fortune cookies. I’ve gotten some really good advice and words of wisdom over the years, so … More I Ate the Cookie
As someone who manages a couple of writing centers at Palo Alto College in San Antonio, Texas, USA, I’m often asked, by faculty members of one sort of another, to do writing workshops for students. Exactly one week ago today, I did a critical thinking activity with a class of writers. It’s a workshop I’ve … More I’ve Been Thinking about Thinking
Before I get into the body of this piece, I’d like to say that the conflict in Ukraine is especially interesting and tragic because I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Poland during the mid-nineties, not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was sent … More What Vladimir Putin’s War Is Teaching Me
I almost never have writer’s block, but I’ve had it recently. That’s at least partly a function of having published somewhere between 150 and 200 pieces on this website. Here’s the thing. Writer’s block does exist. It’s often a byproduct of mental fatigue. It can also be caused by what I’ll call “bad living.” In … More The Result of “Bad Living”
A few days ago, my Egyptian wife—she’s often more aware of things happening in North Africa than I am—told me about Rayan Oram, the five-year-old Moroccan boy who’d fallen into a dry water well and gotten stuck about a hundred feet down. The child’s plight prompted an amazing five-day attempt—many hours of which were livestreamed … More Question of the Day: Number 552
Today, my aim is to engage in a little self-care. I’m not sure how this is going to turn out, but I’m certain of my purpose. I want to get a few things off my chest. I want to look at myself in a kind of metaphorical “mirror” and write about what I see when … More Finding My Way
I didn’t really have a topic in mind for this week’s blog. I was running out of time, and then, miracle of miracles, late on Saturday evening, I watched Austin City Limits, a weekly TV program, run out of Austin, that features hour-long musical performances. This week, they had a concert by Terry Allen and … More Terry Allen: Writer, Artist, Musician, and Generally Cool Guy
Several days ago, I found myself sitting in a Zoom meeting at work. My mind was wandering, mostly because I wasn’t even for sure why I’d been invited to participate. An idea suddenly came to me, so I reached for the notebook I always keep at hand to capture writing topics when they come. The … More Troy’s Law of Complexification
The Pointless Overthinking blog is going to write a downloadable book and offer it COMPLETELY FREE OF CHARGE to all readers. However, before we undertake this project, we would like to hear from you. What topic would you like to see us take on? (We are thinking a short book of between 30 and 50 … More Question of the Day: Number 549
Hi, all. Not long ago, I was contacted by “Ay,” a blogger who asked if I’d mind being interviewed. After we’d corresponded a bit, she sent a list of interesting questions that I responded to. The full interview can be found here. After checking out my responses, you should look at Ay’s piece about pointless … More I Was Recently Interviewed
Imagine that you were given an antique Alladin lamp for Christmas. A couple of days after receiving the gift, you decide, just for fun, to give the lamp a rub. Lo and behold, much to your amazement, a genie materializes and asks, “Thank you for conjuring me. You are now eligible to ask for three … More Question of the Day: Number 548
By Troy Headrick It’s that time of year again when people think about the new year and how they’d like to make changes in their lives going forward. We often refer to these proposed life modifications as “new year’s resolutions.” The other day, while stepping out of the shower, the idea hit me—insights come as … More The Importance of Language When Making New Year’s Resolutions
The last thing I do, whenever I’ve finished up a piece of writing and am readying it for publication, is to come up with a title. The title frames the piece. It gives the reader a sense of how to approach the reading and what to expect going forward. One of my rules about writing … More Repost: On the Similarities between Writing and Living
We all remember what took place in Washington D.C., USA, on January 6, 2021. There was a violent insurrection at the nation’s capital. Since then, America’s political crisis has grown in breadth and depth. Today, political analysts of all stripes are sounding the alarm. Many fear that the nation is heading down a dark path. … More Think about This as We Approach January 6, 2022