Do You Speak a Dead Language?
“The source of life which you create lies in the power of the language which you have.” —Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building How many of us think about and analyze the language we have—the one we were given…
Answer Me This
—A; —42; —3 hours; —the blue one; —true; —false We are assured the correct answers will get us through liferelatively unscathed. But where is that third-grade teacherwhen the doctor says it’s cancer? Is “A” really the right response when your…
Back to the Beginning
Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia From the second paragraph on page one: “Society is an artificial construction, a defense against nature’s power.” Paglia is not wrong, but she is working from a biased position (as we all do; we each…
A Team Sport
Ideas about greatnessraise a racket andspin over the netlike a fuzzy green ball. Your serve.My return.Charge the net.Mind the baseline.Run. Hit. Win. Or lose. Just a game against a friendly opponent? Turns out I was trying to beat myself—in league…
I Will Just Keep Reading, Thinking, and Writing
And you? I seldom hold a book in my hands and think, “Somebody wrote this crap?” or “Why on earth did anyone see fit to publish this?” There have been a few—what comes immediately to mind are one on self-publishing…
Can You Be Honest With Yourself?
Have you ever been long excited about a trip/vacation only to find yourself disappointed as soon as it begins? Did you brush off the disappointment with an excuse like, “I’m just tired from the travel”? Well, whatever the reason, that…
The Key Shouldn’t Cost More than the Treasure it Unlocks
For each of more than 400 days, I wrote and published at least 1,000 words on a site that no longer exists. I still have most of the posts stashed away and reread one every now again. The following was…
Year After Year
Mother’s Day. I hate it. No matter how much I lower my expectations, no matter how hard my husband and kids try to get me just the right thing, to be thoughtful for a few hours, or to bake something…
The Way It Is
There’s a thread you follow. It goes amongthings that change. But it doesn’t change.People wonder about what you are pursuing.You have to explain about the thread.But it is hard for others to see.While you hold it you can’t get lost.Tragedies…
Is Any of This Real?
How many times have I heard my sister say, “I need to touch it”? Whether we were shopping at the mall, appreciating a friend’s new dress, or entertaining my kids, the words have invariably crossed her lips. She says it…
What Do You Stand For?
As I near the end of The Rape of the Mind, I look at the world I live in and think back over the past three years—and even over the last century—and I feel gratitude for the people in the…
Before the Lips Go Still
I don’t know how or when it happened, but at some point in life, I began to let myself have my own opinions. I reached a point at which I became okay with not liking something I was told I…
