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Thomas James Farrell is professor emeritus of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He started teaching at UMD in Fall 1987, and he retired from UMD at the end of May 2009. He was born in 1944. He holds three degrees from Saint Louis University (SLU): B.A. in English, 1966; M.A.(T) in English 1968; Ph.D.in higher education, 1974. On May 16, 1969, the editors of the SLU student newspaper named him Man of the Year, an honor customarily conferred on an administrator or a faculty member, not on a graduate student -- nor on a woman up to that time. He is the proud author of the book WALTER ONG'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO CULTURAL STUDIES: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE WORD AND I-THOU COMMUNICATION (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2000; 2nd ed. 2009, forthcoming). The first edition won the 2001 Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology conferred by the Media Ecology Association. For further information about his education and his publications, see his UMD homepage: Click here to visit Dr. Farrell's homepage.
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OpEdNews Member for 869 week(s) and 1 day(s) 693 Articles, 0 Quick Links, 160 Comments, 1 Diaries, 1 Series, 0 Polls
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Wednesday, June 4, 2025Stanley McChrystal's Book On Character, and Walter J. Ong's Thought (REVIEW ESSAY) In the present 11,888-word OEN article, I succinctly highlight retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal's new 2025 book On Character: Choices That Define a Life (Portfolio Penguin). In addition, I succinctly highlight the thought of the American Jesuit scholar Walter Jackson Ong, Jr. (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) of Saint Louis University -- where, over the years, I took five course from him. 
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Monday, May 26, 2025I Am a Hypomanic Personality Type Person (REVIEW ESSAY) In my wide-ranging and, at times, deeply personal 12,900-word OEN article "Thomas J. Farrell's further Reflections on His life and Work" (dated May 2, 2025), I reflected deeply on my life and work. In the present OEN article, I now claim that I am a hypomanic personality type person -- and that the Canadian University of Toronto media ecology scholar also was a hypomanic personality type person.
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Saturday, May 24, 2025Tom Cooper on Harold Innis (1894-1952) and Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) (REVIEW ESSAY) In the present OEN article, I succinctly highlight Tom Cooper's ambitious and admirably accessible new 660-page book Wisdom Weavers: The Lives and Thought of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan (Connected Editions) -- which is the revised and updated version of Cooper's ambitious 1979 doctoral thesis at the University of Toronto, which is where Innis and McLuhan taught for years. Innis and McLuhan were pioneers of media ecology.
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Thursday, May 22, 2025Harold Adams Innis (1894-1952) and the Founding of Media Ecology Studies (REVIEW ESSAY) The Canadian Harold Adams Innis (1894-1952) was an intellectual giant at the University of Toronto. He is a founder of media ecology studies, as Edward A. Comor's new 2025 book titled W. T. Easterbrook: Harold Innis's Final Course (Peter Lang) makes clear. 
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Friday, May 2, 2025Thomas J. Farrell's Further Reflections on His Life and Work In the present wide-ranging and, at times, deeply personal 12,900-word OEN article, I continue my reflections on my life and work that I began in my 12,800-word 665th OEN article "Fareed Zakaria and Ezra Klein on President Trump's Foreign Policy" (dated March 24, 2025) and then continued in my 2,000-word OEN article "Thomas J. Farrell's Encore on the Tragic Anti-Body Heritage of Christianity" (dated April 25, 2025).
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Tuesday, April 29, 2025Thomas J. Farrell's Encore on the Tragic Anti-Body Heritage of Christianity (REVIEW ESSAY) In my wide-ranging and, at times, deeply personal 28,800-word 665th OEN article "Fareed Zakaria and Ezra Klein on President Trump's Foreign Policy" (March 24, 2025), I discussed the tragic anti-body heritage of Christianity extensively. In the present 2,000-word OEN article, I now establish the broader context of my other OEN articles as the background for understanding my 665th OEN article, especially my discussion of porn. 
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Thursday, April 24, 2025Agnes Callard's 2025 Book Open Socrates, and Walter J. Ong's Thought (REVIEW ESSAY) In the present OEN article, I first highlight my life and my reading, including highlighting the thought of the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter Jackson Ong, Jr. (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) of Saint Louis University. Next, I highlight Agnes Callard's new 2025 book Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life. 
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Tuesday, April 22, 2025Pope Francis (1936-2025): In Memoriam (REVIEW ESSAY) In the present short OEN article, I first succinctly highlight the life and papacy of Pope Francis, including the most pertinent books about his life and papacy. Next, I succinctly highlight my own life and work, including my OEN articles over the years criticizing the Roman Catholic Church's vision of individual personal morality. Finally, I list seven of my OEN articles over the years about Pope Francis.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2025Thomas J. Farrell's "Top 20" OEN Articles, and Walter J. Ong's Thought (REVIEW ESSAY) In the present 6,580-word OEN article, I first list my "Top 20" OEN articles over the years (since October 2009), ranking each one by the number of views it received online at OEN. Next, I offer some reflections on certain aspects of my "Top 20" list., including relevant information about the thought of the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong.
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Monday, March 24, 2025Fareed Zakaria and Ezra Klein on President Trump's Foreign Policy (REVIEW ESSAY) In the present 28,800-word wide-ranging OEN article, I highlight the journalists Fareed Zakaria and Ezra Klein's lengthy discussion in The New York Times article titled "The Dark Heart of Trump's Foreign Policy" (dated March 1, 2025). In addition, I here include a long appreciative and celebratory discussion of the pornstar Mandy Flores (born on March 19, 1989; with measurements of 39-24-34) for cogent reason that I explain.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2025Philip Shenon on the Last Seven Popes (REVIEW ESSAY) I highlight here the thought of the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) to construct a fourfold account of our Western cultural history and of the history of the Roman Catholic Church -- in which context to consider the American investigative journalist Philip Shenon's bleak new 2025 book. 
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Saturday, February 22, 2025Thomas J. Farrell's Encore About J. R. R. Tolkien's Fantasy Novel, The Lord of the Ring (REVIEW ESSAY) In my wide-ranging and extremely associative 7,800-word OEN article "J. R. R. Tolkien's Fantasy Novel, The Lord of the Ring" (dated February 15, 2025), I succinctly highlighted the English philologist and literary critic Thomas A. Shippey's book J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century (2000). In the present 4,800-word OEN encore article, I reflect further on two lengthy passages from my previous 7,800-word OEN article.
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Saturday, February 15, 2025About J. R. R. Tolkien's Fantasy Novel, The Lord of the Rings (REVIEW ESSAY) In certain recent OEN articles, I have explored the Swiss psychiatrist and psychological theorist C. G. Jung's conceptualization of fantasy thinking involving images and associative thinking. Using associative thinking in the present essay, I explore J. R. R. Tolkien's three-volume fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, by highlighting Thomas A. Shippey's perceptive book J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century (2000). 
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Wednesday, January 29, 2025Some Deeply Personal Reflections About My Life, and About Certain Pornstars (REVIEW ESSAY) The title of the present OEN article is intended to call to mind my earlier OEN article titled "Some Personal Reflections About Porn" (dated January 2, 2025). In my present wide-ranging OEN article, I highlight a new insight I had regarding the work of the the American Jesuit scholar Walter J. Ong (1912-2003) after I had published my 660th OEN article "About Pope Francis' New 2025 300-Page Autobiography" on January 25, 2025. 
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Saturday, January 25, 2025About Pope Francis' New 2025 300-Page Autobiography (REVIEW ESSAY) The present wide-ranging and extremely associative essay is my 650th OEN article. It is about Pope Francis' new 2025 300-page Autobiography, written with Carlo Musso, translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon (Random House). In it, among other things, we learn a lot about Pope Francis' childhood growing up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. So I discuss my childhood a bit in the "Appendix" at the end of my essay.
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Sunday, January 19, 2025In Praise of John Bradshaw's Book Healing the Shame That Binds You (REVIEW ESSAY) The American recovering alcoholic and self-help guru John Bradshaw (1933-2016) published the profoundly insightful book Healing the Shame That Binds You (1987; expanded and updated second edition, 2005). Americans liberals and progressives today may still benefit from John Bradshaw's profound insights in that book, as I hope to show in the present essay through my extensive discussion of mom-son fantasy skits in porn videos. 
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Friday, January 10, 2025Some Further Reflections about Cory Chase and about Donald Trump (REVIEW ESSAY) As far as I know, there is no connection between the exhibitionistic pornstar Cory Chase (born on February 25, 1981) and the misogynistic Donald Trump (born on June 14, 1946) -- apart from the fact that they are both Americans. My reflections about each of them in the present essay involve my discussion of the late Jungian psychotherapist and psychological theorist Robert Moore's theory of the eight archetypes of maturity. 
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Tuesday, January 7, 2025C. G. Jung (1875-1961) in 1939-1940 on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) (REVIEW ESSAY) In 2023, Princeton University Press published the book Jung on Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises: Lectures Delivered at the ETH Zurich: Volume 7: 1939-1940, edited by Martin Liebscher, translated by Caitlin Stephens. Because I had been in the Jesuit order (1979-1987) founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, I decided to take a look at Jung's public lectures in 1939-1940. I found them remarkably accessible.
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Thursday, January 2, 2025Some Personal Reflections About Porn (REVIEW ESSAY) In five of my OEN articles in 2024, I mentioned porn. To ring out the old year now, and to ring in the new year 2025, I offer here some candid personal reflections about porn involving my own experiences of watching porn over the years and my candid observations about certain pornstars. My interpretation of porn in my life may surprise you -- because I also see my interpretation as extending to all men who watch porn.
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Saturday, December 28, 2024Some Reflections on the Work of C. G. Jung and Walter J. Ong (REVIEW ESSAY) The prolific Swiss psychiatrist and psychological theorist C. G. Jung (1875-1961) explored what he referred to as fantasy thinking involving images versus directed thinking involving logic. The American Jesuit media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) of Saint Louis University explored what he referred to as orality versus phonetic alphabetic literacy. I further explore both. Page 2 of 22 First Last Back Next 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 View All |
