Most Popular Blogs

Spring, some years ago. . . .

As I watch my 10-month old daughter pluck a living leaf from the crab apple tree in our front yard. . . as I watch her fondle the now amputated and dying flesh of the tree, I see her open-mouthed face puzzle over this fading tissue, unsure of its use or purpose. She touches it, holds it, concerns herself over its texture, its edges, its softness.

She has killed this leaf. At her age, both acutely aware and blindly oblivious to her destructive ...

Last year an English professor at my college retired; she left most of her books to the faculty. I scooped up several freebies: The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham was one of these. The particular volume that I read was an old, ragged, highlighted, dog-eared cheap paperback. It had been read by several people before me.

And I think the nature of this particular volume perfectly fit the central theme of Maugham's novella: that great art scars the intellect and heals the soul. ...

The Earth is a wonderful place. It is the home of our species, and it is pleasant in innumerable ways, but we all know that the Earth is not formed in a way that maximizes utility, beauty, or anything. The nearly spherical shape and the axial tilt cause seasonal variations are annoying or worse. There are advantages in having changes in seasons, but we could manage it without having such great differences in the length of day and night. There may be people who think that I have this opinion because ...

I wasted some time Friday taking part in a group that a hospital was using to gather comments about their planned opening of a new branch, and to get suggestions on how they might improve services. It started with a lengthy presentation that seemed to be designed to focus thinking on a few narrow issues related to people getting medical treatments. That was after an introduction that clearly stated that they wanted to hear anything. It seemed perfectly insincere; they wanted to hear anything, but ...

There were good reasons why the adage “spare the rod and spoil the child” has been in use for so long. In isn’t the act of hitting that instills decent behavior; it is the matter of receiving prompt and appropriate punishment. Even those who have been conditioned by their genetic heritage can be amended to some degree, if the treatment is prompt and appropriate. Not only can that help parents to teach their children to mind their manners at home, but thousands of years of experience have shown that ...