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Author: Patrick Dobson

Dr. Patrick Dobson is a work in progress until his termination. In the meantime, He is a writer, scholar, postman, and college professor living in Kansas City, MO.

The University of Nebraska Press published his travel memoirs, Canoeing the Great Plains: A Missouri River Summer in 2015 and Seldom Seen: A Journey into the Great Plains in 2009. Canoeing the Great Plains won the 2016 High Plains Book Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award. His essays and poems have been published in New Letters, daCunha, Kansas City Star, Garo, Wood Coin, and JONAHmagazine, and others.

Dobson earned a doctorate in American History and Literature at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2013. He has edited books, taught journalism, and been a union ironworker. He now teaches American History, Modern Latin American History, and Western Civilization at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS.

He looks forward to hearing from you soon.

When the adopted son’s mom refuses to admit…

Dear Shannon, Many thanks for your letter to Vince. We have read parts of it to him, to let him know you love him and are thinking of him, but edited some of the other content. I hope you will understand when I say that we have to put Vincent…

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Zen, age, and welding

Stella, I’ve been thinking about your worry over aging. First, you are incredibly beautiful. I think, underneath, you know that. You tend to overcompensate–the marathon running, the constant workouts, and the weight lifting. But that’s a neurosis that will lead to heart health and mental well-being. So, you’re dong fine.…

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Trying to poke a hole in the dam

Joe, Herein lies the rub. I am not of a “kind,” nor do I think my way superior. That one side is so willing to demean the other bugs me. After all, at the Second Continental Congress, there was vigorous debate between those who would become anti-federalists and federalists over…

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The student failing to understand herself

Hilda, I’ve been through the wringer myself. All understanding from me. Please do not feel self-conscious or out of step. In fact, you can always make a time to work through class things with me. We can get you through my class, but you will have to make the effort…

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The forces of reaction…

Dear Joe, Hmmm…education, history… I don’t know about that. The E-mail you forwarded about how Obama will destroy the nation in Hitlerian fashion sounds pretty selective and hysterical to me, not to mention distrustful of democracy and our systems of government, politics, and social production, which may not be all…

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