Me
My name is Chris. I was born and raised in and around NYC, in a middle class Italian immigrant community. Early on, I got sucked into questions about human life, and so graduated from Purchase College (in NY) with a BA in philosophy and literature, and later earned a PhD in philosophy from UConn in 2002. While there, I met my wife playing softball on a summer co-ed team, and out of graduate school we both got jobs in the same city in the Midwest.
Here we are now, twenty years later. I am still teaching philosophy at the same college, and she teaches psychology at a college across town. We have two teenage daughters, one sweet old black cat, a young rescue dog, and a young evil cat. Since the Midwest is a desolate place for Italian food, I cook a lot of Italian food, bake Italian breads, cheesecakes, and assorted cookies/pastries. Dominos and Olive Garden are not my thing.
I also do a huge amount of running - about 45 miles a week. I started in 2017, at 51 years old. This was a massive life change for me, given my sedentary philosophy professor life. I thought it was important, given aging, to “manage my decline” as I call it. It seems to be working. I continue to age, not surprisingly. but I’m in good shape. I enjoy running, and since I do everything at full throttle, I’m trying to qualify for the New York City 2023 Marathon. It’s a tough goal to hit, though.
What is this Blog About?
I gave this blog a whirl during my first try at the NYC Marathon. I got injured four week out from my qualifier race, and kept running, but lost motivation to post. It was a drag. So, my hope is to pick this back up for a second time. What you’ll typically find here are three kinds of posts. First, my aim is to post once a week about progress on my running plan (a 20 week plan). Second, I’ll post about philosophical thoughts. Third, I may blow off some steam and throw up a political post from time to time.
Since Substack is a subscription service, this makes for an interesting collection of writing topics. Some are interested in running, but not politics - or at least mine. Or some like philosophy, but are bored by running. Rarely is someone going to enjoy all three. That said, I realize that my non-streamlined brand here isn’t going to win me many subscriptions. But that’s okay. If you’re willing to sign up, I appreciate your interest. Life is short, so I hope you find something of value here.
Please feel free to leave comments on the posts. I welcome the interchange, even when (and sometimes particularly when) it is critical and suggestive. If you actively subscribe to the newsletter, you won’t miss any posts, and will be notified by email each time that a new one comes out. Or: you could just show up here at my substack and read what you want, when you want. It’s all good.
If you’d like, you can also follow me on Strava (under Chris Panza) and on Twitter, under @chrispanza (under the screen name “Philosopher Always Running”.
See you around.
