Mark D. White

I'm writing this on a Monday, and the fall semester begins on Thursday, so I'm sure I'll get all my writing goals for the summer done by then.

Ha.

I wanted to check in before school starts, although I don't have much specific to report. Nothing was finished this summer, though progress was made on several projects—not the least of them being scheduling them out. As it happens, the commitments I've made are exceptionally well spaced out in time through the end of 2024, thanks to some patient editors, and it should leave time to do smaller things as they arise. ("Should," he writes with trembling fingers.)

Besides this, there have been several new developments since I last reported:

• The chapter I completed before summer began, "Punishment and Resources," was accepted, and will be published in The Oxford Handbook of Punishment Theory and Philosophy, edited by Jesper Ryberg.
• I published three posts based on my Thor book at Psychology Today: "What Makes Thor Worthy?", "Who Should Decide What Worth Means—and If You're Worthy?", and "How Do You Reclaim Your Sense of Worth After Losing It?"
• I'll be giving my first guest lecture since 2018 in late September, at York College (in Pennsylvania), where I last visited in 2015, on the subject of Batman and ethics. (That's assuming I'm finished with jury duty obligations that start in the middle of September!)
• Finally, my biggest news is that I have agreed to prepare a revised and updated second edition of The Virtues of Captain America in anticipation of the new movie in 2024 (and the tenth anniversary of the first edition). I've planned a thorough revision of the entire book, working in new examples when appropriate, plus a new section on the implications of the recent "Secret Empire" debacle and a new chapter on Sam Wilson's (ongoing) experience as Cap. (Coincidentally, this arrived today.)

I hope you enjoy the withering embers of summer, in whatever way you can, and the impending crispness of fall, whatever form it takes for you.

This blog's title is, of course, in tribute to this fine singer and actress, gone far too soon.