The Useless Tree

Sam Crane

  • Religious Taoism Today

    When I invoke Taoism, I almost always mean philosophical Taoism.  I tend to avoid the other side of the tradition, religious Taoism, not because I disrespect it (I don't) but because I have not studied it sufficiently to feel comfortable… Continue reading

  • Wei Jingsheng, Mencian Gentleman

    Thirty years ago today, on a wall at the intersection of Xidan Avenue and Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, an electrician from the Beijing Zoo, Wei Jingsheng, put up a big character poster (dazi bao) entitled, "The Fifth Modernization."  He would… Continue reading

  • Chinese Nationalism and the Great Leap Forward

    Sorry for the blog silence: a whole week without a post.  That is unusual for me, even when I travel.  What kept me away was work, for the most part.  I had to grade 67 five page papers in under… Continue reading

  • The Beatles and the I Ching

    While I was preparing the turkey yesterday morning for our Thanksgiving feast, I was listening to the radio and caught a good portion of “The White Album Listening Party,” commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the Beatles’ White Album.  They played… Continue reading

  • Taoist Thanksgiving Thoughts

    Back in 2005, when this blog was only a few months old, I wrote a post, "A Taoist Thanksgiving," which I have returned to over the years.  It places my son, Aidan, who died two and a half years ago,… Continue reading

  • Forty Years

    I think all that needs to be said about these two photos is that the second one is of the night Obama won the election: Continue reading

  • Confucius on Youtube

    Googling around today I found this video.  It's from the Voice of America but strikes me as a useful little bit on Confucianism. Continue reading

  • Oh, no, it’s only rock and roll….

    I have never been a fan of Guns n' Roses.  They hit when I was a struggling assistant professor, too busy with my academic work to concern myself with new rock bands.  And having been influenced by earlier bands, like… Continue reading

  • Confucianism in Hard Times

    Yesterday in class I was talking about Japan in the 1990s, the persistent economic stagnation and the cultural pessimism it spawned (the pessimism is expressed in this article by Masaru Tamamoto, "The Uncertainty of the Self: Japan at Century's End").  … Continue reading

  • Night Out

    Here is a photo (from the Berkshire Eagle newspaper) of me (on the left) introducing one of my daughter's friends to Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts: The Governor was visiting my college, which held a rather extraordinary event: a panel… Continue reading