Joshua Doležal

The sports boom will bust universities The takeover is nearly complete

Little known fact: all but about 25 universities lose money on athletics. -$16 million per year on average for D1 schools.

My recent interview with John Pistelli.

Pierre Bourdieu Was Blowing Down the Street joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/pierre-bou...

I’ve been inactive here for over a year. Still seems very quiet in my circles. Prove me wrong?

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...

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.

"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."

a group of men and women in armor standing next to each other

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...

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-...

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...

"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...

Blacktail Creek A hunting poem

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

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-...

Preview of "Phillis Wheatley: An American Genius" at The Recovering Academic, joshuadolezal.substack.com

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...

elk in manhattan

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...

The Librarians Are Not OK A decades-long attack on their status is bad for us all

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...

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...