Service
I believe that a person's worth is best measured by the lives he
touches,
and by his efforts to make the world better today than it was yesterday.
I do a lot of service as part of my job, mostly in the form of serving
on
department, college, and university-wide committees.
But that's boring. Here are some of the more fun and/or rewarding
things I do.
Ask the Professor
I'm a regular panelist on Ask the
Professor, one of the longest
continuous-running radio shows
in the United States. People from all over the country send
questions to our host, Kathy Bush,
who then asks them to a panel of UDM professors. We answer the
ones we can, joke about
the ones we can't, and joke about other things too. It's
comedy/trivia at it's most professorial.
It airs on 94.7FM and 105.1FM in Detroit, and can be downloaded in .mp3
format at our website.
It's also available as an iTunes Podcast;
we're the first entry that
turns up if you select "podcasts"
in the search tool, and then type "Ask the Professor." Send us
your questions, about anything!
GLSEN
I donate to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network,
because I believe GLBT Americans should have the same
legal rights as the rest of us, particularly marriage rights and
anti-discrimination legislation. I consider this to be the
most important civil rights issue of my generation.
The progress is slow, but promising.
On a related note, I also volunteer my services as part of the security
patrol for AIDS Walk Detroit,
and I support the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at UDM. I would be
happy to entertain ideas on how
to be more active in GLBT-rights activism, and pass ideas along to the
UDM GSA as appropriate.
The Red Cross
Shortly after meeting my wife, Amanda, she persuaded me to start
giving blood at the Red Cross.
I'd always meant to, but had never gotten around to it, so I have to
thank her for motivating me.
I'm up to 27 donations as of August 22nd, 2012 ... that's 3.375 gallons.
The trick is not to give that much all at one time.