Tim Lacy, Author at Public Seminar

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Memory, Justice, History, and the “Right” to be Forgotten

Reflections on Georgetown’s Slave Legacy

May 4, 2018 • by Tim Lacy

For the past two years, since the publication of a front-page New York Times story on Georgetown University’s sale of 272 slaves, I’ve been following the saga how the university has dealt with this information. By way of context, Georgetown is one of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. When the Society of Jesus ...

Memory, Justice, History, and the “Right” to be Forgotten

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Fantasy Fatigue

A history without historical perspective

February 26, 2018 • by Tim Lacy

No one attending to post-2008 politics in the United States, or to the country’s cultural and social trends since, will deny the generic presence of ignorance, unreason, or irrationalism. By 2016 and 2017, word-of-the-year nominations included“post-truth”and “fake news,” respectively. Somehow Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” did not make the cut for ...

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Grounding in Trump Time

Trump year 1

December 5, 2017 • by Tim Lacy

Since those first shocking days after the November 2016 presidential election, I’ve grounded myself by becoming, ironically, more radical and more alert to injustice. We’re now living in what I’ve taken to calling “Trump Time” -- a bizarre image of regular time wherein we’re all on alert for abuse. It ...

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The Greatest Threat to Orderly Thought

Robert Drinan and Religious Progressives in Politics

June 11, 2017 • by Tim Lacy

When Robert Drinan, S.J. (a Jesuit), ran as a liberal anti-Vietnam War, anti-Nixon candidate for a U.S House seat (MA’s 3rd District) in 1970, he upset a 14-term incumbent, Philip J. Philbin, in the Democratic Primary. He eventually became the first Catholic priest to hold an elected office after winning ...

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Great Books Socialism?

Intellectual Traditions Matter for Movement Building and Identity Formation

April 6, 2017 • by Tim Lacy

Late in 2016, Molly Worthen lauded the great books idea as an antidote to liberalism’s ills in the Age of Trump. In “Can I Go to Great Books Camp?” Worthen notes that studying the history of ideas is always connected to great books. One assumption of Worthen’s, which I endorse, ...