When I review the arc of my life, I find it has a “good-practices” trajectory. In my first book I teased out the good practices that Louisa May Alcott suggested in children’s stories in Aunt Jo’s Scrap Bag. My second book — Making Your Writing Program Work: A Guide to Good Practices, coauthored with friend and colleague Thomas Hilgers, laid out good practices for those who administered, taught, and studied in writing programs. In “Life Lessons in Civility,” in the about-me section on this website, I describe good practices that I brought to the projects described above.

The trajectory of a second arc led me to make new “things” work, whether they be new programs I helped develop and led at the university, or the twenty different courses I offered, or a willingness to make a life for myself and my family in new, quite different, places.

Good practices by definition involve the habitual carrying out of a skill or body of knowledge (as in doctor or lawyer), so as to attain proficiency. Practitioners use their knowledge to help those who seek it; they work in the professions, teach, coach, and/or parent. They offer good practices--theory- and knowledge-based — for the particular experience at issue.

Human experiences, then, are at the heart of good practices.

In the sections that follow, I offer a set of knowledge-based experiences to help you realize your full humanity through the lens of civility. To the extent possible, I forego the didactic, and focus on helping you engage, embody, and practice the art of civility.