What I’m writing
I’m in the middle of a four-essay summer series on this site called The Common Good. The argument is that the country is due for a serious update to how we treat education, work, trust, and public purpose, not as private benefits or transactional public goods, but as older, sturdier common goods. The essays anchor to dates that matter to the argument:
- Essay I. Education as a Common Good: around the Fourth of July
- Essay II. Work as a Common Good: middle of summer
- Essay III. Trust as a Common Good: late summer
- Essay IV. Purpose as a Common Good: September 11, the 25th anniversary of the attacks
Companion writing on nonprofit and personal financial literacy runs alongside the marquee series. Both live in the writing section of this site and cross-post to Substack.
Where I’m speaking
September 9, 2026. A Legacy of Service: America at the 25th Anniversary of 9/11. George W. Bush Presidential Center, Dallas. I will be one of two voices from the post-9/11 generation of veterans on a program that includes President George W. Bush, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. Event page. More detail on the dedicated event page here.
October 2026. MCON. Las Vegas. The annual convening created by veterans to bring the military community together. I will speak on a program still being finalized. MCON.
What I’m thinking about
The doctoral work at Syracuse Maxwell: a dissertation-in-progress on higher education as national capacity-building. Eight federal decisions between 1785 and 1965, each made under external pressure, each treating education as national infrastructure rather than as a private benefit. The Higher Education Act of 1965 was built for a population and a country very different from the ones we have now. The argument I am working out, both in my writing and in my dissertation, is that the country owes itself a serious update.
What I’m reading
Rotating: primary sources for the dissertation (the Truman Commission report, the Higher Education Act’s original legislative history, the Land-Grant Acts), a small library on the history of the common good, and current scholarship on civic trust, workforce mobility, and the veteran-to-civilian transition.
Off-site
- LinkedIn: professional posts and article-length essays
- Substack: cross-posts of the Common Good series plus subscriber notes
- X: lighter cadence
If you want a fuller picture, see the bio or the press & media kit. If you want to reach me, contact.