• Thoughts

    Presently Absent

    Sharing or not sharing: that is the question. I go through cycles; one day, I’m determined to just use my voice, no matter what. The next, I feel defiant and determined to never bother again. A day or two later,…

  • Thoughts

    We Can’t Let the Light Go Out

    “Men do not learn when they believe they already know.”     —Barbara Ward I added that quote to the signature line of my email long ago. I am still unsure about who Barbara Ward actually is or was: an author (probably), an…

  • Thoughts

    When You’re a Stranger

    Where did I come from and who am I? Do typical people expend much time on these questions, or is it just me and a handful of other narcissists? I actually am genuinely interested in those big questions, perhaps, most…

  • Thoughts

    Letting Myself Look

    I guess I have not written about Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill and that surprises me. It, or maybe the just the Joe Rogan chat with Tom O’Neill, turned out…

  • Thoughts

    Please Don’t Get Comfortable

    The best part of reading more than one book at any period of time is finding the connections among them. It is a conversation, and like most conversations, paying attention is important, because if you do, you’ll likely find answers…

  • Thoughts

    Almost a Year

    The day after Ash Wednesday, I remembered my not terribly solid Lenten tradition of reading The Gaze of Love by Sister Wendy Beckett, so I pulled the book off the shelf and quickly caught up. The subtitle is Meditations on…

  • Thoughts

    Who Wanted It First?

    Yesterday, I tried to put my finger on what separates me from so many people I encounter. I tossed around one notion after another, but none felt quite right until I hit upon the word “quest.” Yet even that misses…

  • Thoughts

    Is It a Good Expression?

    That question—the title of this post—was asked in an instructional video presented by a successful photographer. He was going through a list he uses to evaluate images: the making of them, along with the finished product. It’s an interesting query…