Joshua Doležal
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joshuadolezal.bsky.social
Joshua Doležal
@joshuadolezal.bsky.social
I am a father of three, book coach, and author of the memoir Down from the Mountaintop: From Belief to Belonging. I also produce a Substack newsletter, "The Recovering Academic," and write occasionally for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Little known fact: all but about 25 universities lose money on athletics. -$16 million per year on average for D1 schools.
The sports boom will bust universities
The takeover is nearly complete
open.substack.com
November 23, 2024 at 2:38 PM
My recent interview with John Pistelli.

Pierre Bourdieu Was Blowing Down the Street joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/pierre-bou...
November 21, 2024 at 1:28 PM
I’ve been inactive here for over a year. Still seems very quiet in my circles. Prove me wrong?
November 17, 2024 at 5:25 PM
This is an essay for any teachers who feel that the heart of what they do is lost in the corporatized models of K-12 and, increasingly, higher ed.

Teaching is more like a spiritual journey than it is like continuous improvement in business. Lean into the mystery.

open.substack.com/pub/joshuado...
November 16, 2024 at 7:04 PM
"I’d like to think that our facts are not governed by whether we sit at the judge’s bench or in the defendant’s chair. If that is true, we’ve lost the plot of a republic and it’s all gone back to colonies — Massachusetts Bay or Rhode Island — and the information ecosystems that go with them."
Have We Returned to Colonial Times?
I have been thinking this week of Anne Hutchinson, the Puritan woman who stood trial in 1637 for troubling the commonwealth of New England.
open.substack.com
November 15, 2024 at 2:37 PM
Homeschooling remains the fastest growing form of education in American, even two years after mask mandates and lockdowns. Read my latest essay to see why I think this trend is dangerous for us all.

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/the-rise-o...
November 14, 2023 at 2:59 PM
Kao Kalia Yang spoke to me recently in the first public conversation about her forthcoming memoir, Where Rivers Part, which tells her mother's life story. Read a free excerpt of our conversation at The Recovering Academic.

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/kao-kalia-...
November 7, 2023 at 4:47 PM
"You know you have a story worth telling when you can remember the weather, when touch and smell sensations come flooding back. Keep chanting it to yourself. One place. One time. Let the camera roll."

#writersblock #memoir #storytelling

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/how-to-bre...
How to Break Writer's Block as a Memoirist
Block is the bane of many beginning writers. But instead of “writer’s block” I think we really mean “writer’s doubt.” When my students complained of feeling stuck, I’d often find after a...
joshuadolezal.substack.com
October 31, 2023 at 5:53 PM
It's hunting season, which brings back memories of Montana for me. Here's a poem about fathers, sons, and the age-old autumn ritual.

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/blacktail-...
Blacktail Creek
A hunting poem
joshuadolezal.substack.com
October 27, 2023 at 2:16 PM
It's hunting season, which brings back memories of Montana for me. Here's a poem about fathers, sons, and the age-old autumn ritual.

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/blacktail-...
Blacktail Creek
A hunting poem
joshuadolezal.substack.com
October 27, 2023 at 2:07 PM
I'd never heard of Phillis Wheatley before taking an American literature survey. The same was true for most of my students. This is what we lose when we cut the humanities. If you've never heard of Wheatley, perhaps you'll read my introduction.

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/phillis-wh...
October 24, 2023 at 10:42 AM
One thing I love about writing on Substack is how it connects me to people I might otherwise never have met. Enjoy this email exchange between me (a native Montanan) and David Roberts, a lifelong Manhattanite.

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/montana-me...
October 20, 2023 at 1:48 PM
In this reprint from The Chronicle, I examine the sexist history that has plagued the library profession and how the perception of libraries as sacred spaces has made it more difficult for librarians to advocate for parity.

#librarians #academia @highered

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/the-librar...
The Librarians Are Not OK
A decades-long attack on their status is bad for us all
joshuadolezal.substack.com
October 17, 2023 at 3:02 PM
I learned of The Gettysburg Review's demise after reading a Forbes article that vilified faculty for obstructing change and after I'd finished watching Band of Brothers. This inspired some thoughts on leadership. @kevinrmcclure.bsky.social

joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/university...
October 13, 2023 at 5:16 PM