Gender Muted Fathering- The New Fatherhood Replaced (<– click this link to view the paper)

It is done.  It is not every day that one meets a man who has attained a thirteen year degree in anything other than medicine.  My final paper on the history of fatherhood as an institution took shape over a period of almost exactly one year, and (assuming it receives a passing grade) will be the end of an important phase of my life, the college years.

I attended my own graduation as a spectator the first time around, and listened to my future brother in law’s commencement speech.  Nate spoke of the importance of avocations and the examined life, and it is a message that has stuck with me through the years.

I always was bad at goodbyes, and often thought of my failure to write my final paper and earn my four year degree as a way of keeping an open door to the past.  Now that door has finally closed.  One of my favorite fictional characters, Stephen King’s Roland of Gilead, has been my companion on the quest for my own Dark Tower.  Roland is the last gunslinger in a world that has moved on, and as he finally approaches his goal (the Dark Tower), he sounds his horn and calls the names of all those who have been instrumental in the pursuit of his quest.  In that spirit, I would like to acknowledge the people and places that have accompanied me on my thirteen year quest for a four year education.

“I come in the name of Gay 1-3, we like it on top!

“I come in the name of 707 Wyoming, and batslayers everywhere!

“I come in the name of 712 E 7th, the ka-tet of my youth!

“I come in the name of the commune, the bars, the Hut, and the drawers!

“I come in the name of Northeast Minneapolis, and of Moorhead!

“I come in the name of my parents, who have made me, and their families, who have made them!

“I come in the name of my wife, my son, and my daughter!

“I am Lukas of Morris, and I come as myself; you will open to me.”