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Universities should celebrate generosity. They should say “thank you.” They should acknowledge the people who make progress possible. But there is a line, somewhere between appreciation and amplification, where gratitude turns into something else. Something louder. Something performative . Something that begins to feel less like stewardship and more like spectacle. And lately, I’ve been wondering whether we’ve crossed that line. In the most recent issue of Activities and Impa

It’s impossible not to notice. The trash is everywhere. Along footpaths and medians, in temple courtyards and outside shops, at the edges of railway platforms and beneath flyovers. It gathers in corners like an afterthought. When people sweep, they often sweep into  a corner, not away . The pile becomes neater, but it doesn’t disappear. What’s striking isn’t just the volume. It’s the type . Much of it is lightweight: crinkled plastic wrappers, foil-lined packets, single-use s

Somewhere along the way, we began saying it out loud. The best veterinary school in the world. It appears in brochures. In fundraising decks. In speeches. On banners at conferences. Sometimes it’s said jokingly. Sometimes aspirationally. Increasingly, it is said as if it were settled fact. And every time I hear it, I wince a little. Not because I don’t love the place. Not because I don’t believe in its people. But because I’ve lived long enough, and worked in enough corners o

In a world filled with constant accumulation, the Swedish practice of döstädning , (pronounced “doh-sted-ning”) or Swedish death cleaning , offers a refreshing perspective on decluttering.   Unlike the harsh urgency that death cleaning might imply, this method is a gentle , thoughtful , and intentional approach to tidying up.   Döstädning  is not just for yourself but for those who will one day inherit your belongings. What Is Swedish Death Cleaning? Popularized by Margareta

Every so often I hear an announcement that sounds, at first blush, entirely good. More opportunity. More access. More care. More growth. This week it was a short “Minute with Mark” message from the dean at UC Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ikWbYZqr4 The promise was straightforward and upbeat: Increase the veterinary class by hundreds of students. Treat tens of thousands more animals. Launch new programs. Support new research. It is the kind of language donors like.

This image was created using artificial intelligence and is intended as a conceptual illustration. It does not depict a real building and associated signage. If you were to gather the former professors of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine - those now emeriti and those no longer living – and ask them about the  renaming  of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine to the Joan & Sanford I. Weill School of Veterinary Medicine : You would not hear a single opinion. But

This six-part series began with philanthropy and ends with governance, but it has been circling a single question all along: What happens when influence accumulates without formal ownership, and without clear accountability? Naming rights and corporate board service  are often discussed as separate issues. They are not. They are two expressions of the same structural shift in how power now operates within public institutions. This final essay brings them together. Two Differ

You notice it almost immediately in India. On temple doors. Painted in red on the backs of trucks. Drawn in chalk beside shop entrances. Pressed into marigold garlands at weddings. Stamped onto new account books at Diwali. The first time you see it, your breath catches. Because to a Western eye - to anyone of our generation, raised on the history of the Second World War - the shape is shocking. The swastika. It feels out of place, unsettling, almost impossible. And yet here i

As I start Part 5, a pattern should be clear. Naming rights are not simply about recognition. Corporate board appointments are not simply about service. Both represent a deeper change in how influence operates inside public institutions. Influence that is structural , normalized , and   largely invisible . This part of the series brings those two strands together. The Shared Logic Behind Naming and Board Seats At first glance, donor naming rights and corporate board membershi

This image was created using artificial intelligence and is intended as a conceptual illustration. It does not depict a real building or real associated signage. In Part 3, I focused on the human dimension of large-scale philanthropy. How transformative gifts can quietly alter the relationship between institutions and the thousands of small donors whose steady, loyal contributions sustained them for decades. That discussion centered on belonging, trust, and the subtle disenga

This image was created using artificial intelligence and is intended as a conceptual illustration. It does not depict a real newspaper or building. In Part 2, I examined the implications of a public veterinary school taking a private name, using the Weill gift to UC Davis as a case study in how philanthropy, however generous, can quietly reshape institutional identity. That discussion focused on precedent, permanence, and the subtle shift that occurs when gratitude becomes tr

The Red Fort   of Agra  does not announce itself gently. It rises from the banks of the Yamuna like a statement. Massive red sandstone walls, crenellated and impenetrable, glowing warm in the Indian sun. You feel it before you understand it. This is not merely architecture. This is authority, ambition, and empire, built to endure. I arrived in Agra early in the day, the heat already pressing in. The Taj Mahal  may draw the crowds, but the Red Fort tells the deeper story. If

The first thing you notice about Amber Fort  is not its size, or even its beauty. It’s the way it rises. High above the dusty plains outside Jaipur, the fort appears to grow directly out of the hillside. Honey-colored stone stacked with purpose, confidence, and the quiet authority of centuries. From a distance, it feels less like a monument than a presence. Something that has always been there. Something that remembers. The road up to Amber winds slowly, climbing past elephan

This image was generated using artificial intelligence and is intended as a conceptual illustration. It does not represent a real building. In Part 1 of this series, I explored the idea of philanthropy as it once was - an act of generosity grounded in service rather than donor recognition. In Part 2, I turn to a contemporary example that brings those questions into sharp focus: the recent renaming of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine following a historic philanthropi

The first thing you notice at the Amber Fort, just outside Jaipur in India, is the light. It slides across the honey-colored stone in the late afternoon, catching on carved arches and mirrored halls, softening the heat of Jaipur into something almost theatrical. The second thing you notice is the couples. They appear gradually, as if summoned by the light itself. Young men in tailored sherwanis . Young women in embroidered  lehengas  so intricately worked they seem less like

This image was generated using artificial intelligence and is intended as a conceptual illustration. This essay begins a six-part series exploring the changing nature of philanthropy in veterinary medicine and higher education. It is not a critique of generosity, nor an argument against giving, but an examination of how money, naming, and influence now intersect in ways that shape institutional identity, professional values, and public trust. Across these six pieces, I will l

One of the small shocks of spending time in India is the queue. Or rather, the absence of one. You stand patiently, believing in the invisible contract of first come, first served. You wait. You inch forward. And then, quite suddenly, someone steps in front of you. No apology. No eye contact. No sense that anything unusual has occurred. At first, it feels rude. Even personal. A tiny moral breach. But after a while, you begin to suspect it isn’t rudeness at all. It’s somethin

We were sitting at the dinner table at a hotel in Jaipur when my mate Tony, a true blue Aussie, asked: What do you think about celebrating Australia Day? You see, it was January 26 , a public holiday in India when the population celebrates Republic Day , which marks a defining milestone in India's national journey . The day the Constitution of India came into force in 1950, formally establishing the country as a Sovereign Democratic Republic . Australia Day  is observed each

Veterinary Terminology  is a reflective series about the words veterinarians use. How they arise, how they drift, and how they quietly shape professional thinking. This is not a series about catching errors or enforcing purity. It is about noticing habit, distinguishing precision from convenience, and preserving the language that allows a profession to think clearly. Few words in veterinary medicine feel as harmless, and are as routinely misused, as: Leg . Everyone knows wha

When I look back at 2025, I don’t remember it as a year of shocks. I remember it as a year of   confirmation . Many of the forces shaping the pet industry had been building for years, and in 2025 they became harder to ignore. Capital behaved differently. Regulation became more visible. Consumers revealed their limits. Professionals showed signs of strain. None of this arrived suddenly, but together it marked a turning point. From where I sit, 2025 felt less like an inflection