In all my roles—as teacher, scholar, practitioner, husband, father—I am motivated by a desire to serve humanity; to explore the ethics of global citizenship; to help build new systems of justice, sustainability, and prosperity; and to transcend traditional social divisions. I believe, to borrow Teihard's great phrase, that the "planetization of humankind" is the next stage of our development as a species, and I aim to do my part or die trying!

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I was born on South Carolina's broad Coastal Plain and raised in the foothills of the Appalachians, the son of a farm boy and a Chicagoan. In my work I bring to bear not only the formal training I received in graduate school, but the outlook and sensibilities that come from my spiritual life, the lessons of growing up in racially integrated urban public schools in the South, and transformative experiences as a young adult living and working in West Africa, the Balkans, and Central America.

I am the proud and grateful husband of a "wise Latina" who grew up in Puerto Rico and Honduras, and it is our amazing good fortune to be the parents of two beautiful boys. I like to listen to music and sing, especially forms with their roots sunk deep in the earth, like spirituals and Sacred Harp. We grow food and flowers at home, we support local, organic agriculture and sustainable land management, and every student in our sons' neighborhood public school takes agriculture education. We reject the Standard American Diet as a matter of health, human rights, and social responsibility. And as much time as I spend in the life of the mind, I've learned that I have to make it a point to take good care of my body. I run and lift weights regularly, and I play capoeira, the distinctive Afro-Brazilian martial art, as much as I possibly can.

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For those who are looking for my formal curriculum vitae, here it is.

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And if you're headed in a decidedly different direction, you can find me on social media @TheShreddedScholar.