I’m a political theorist, which means I study politics the way others study literature, history, or painting: as something demanding deep, slow interpretation. One of the joys of being a political theorist is that we study almost everything. Recently, my research has focused on revolutions: how they erupt, what they do to participants, and how they leave their marks on those who live with their consequences. In general, I also teach and write about things like political violence, sexual liberation, and the intersections between art and radical politics. I grew up and was educated K-12 in the public school system of east Tennessee. At the time it was a superb system, living proof that public education could be as good, and sometimes better, than its private counterparts. Even so, I never studied political theory until I got to college. I didn’t even know what it was or what you could do with it. And yet I became enthralled with the world of political ideas. I see the Engagements at UVA as a way to expose students, as I once was, to the joys of a humanistic education. Studying politics through art, music, history, painting, and poetry should be something available to everyone.