The Observatory
The Observatory is the site's collection of essays and public scholarship. Here you'll find reflective articles connecting rhetoric, communication, sociology, philosophy, media studies, and popular culture to explain why ideas matter and how meaning evolves.
Professor essays and reflections on rhetoric, philosophy, sociology, education, AI, truth, media, popular culture, and social reality.
From the Observatory
A path, storm front, and distant mountain suggest the Observatory’s purpose: stepping back to interpret patterns in public life.
Original photograph contributed to Symbol Wizards.
Featured Commentary
Political and cultural language does not merely react to reality. It draws boundaries around what counts as reasonable, urgent, moral, or visible.
Read the featured essayPublished Essays
Each essay applies the Symbol Wizards method to a problem in language, politics, media, or popular culture.
Words select, organize, emphasize, and conceal.
Read essay →How claims become familiar enough to feel natural.
Read essay →Compressed symbols, identity, humor, and rapid persuasion.
Read essay →Coming Soon
Future commentary will connect rhetoric, culture, media, technology, identity, and public life through accessible scholarly essays.
How streets, skylines, monuments, and neighborhoods communicate identity and power.
Shared rituals, heroes, sacrifice, belonging, and the emotional life of spectatorship.
How recommendation systems shape visibility, preference, attention, and public reality.
Why emotionally charged ideas often travel faster than evidence or nuance.
How companies create stories, heroes, values, and identities around ordinary products.
How stories, music, film, and public symbols inspire collective possibility.