Callie’s character has grown a lot since she witnessed her best friend killed and her mother die in an explosion aboard a boat. She’s arrived in Ridgeville, Texas, to start her college career. She’s barely finished her second month of classes when she gets involved in a drug bust and is thrown out of her […]
April 12, 2011
I have hopes for the new generation
Some pundits continue to sound off on how indifferent the latest crop of college students are to community concerns. I beg to differ. Pundits love to spout this popular notion which is designed mainly to disguise the lack of leadership among some of their own generation. Thirty-five women of the Alpha Zeta chapter of Chi […]
April 8, 2011
Finding Humor
The sign over the door might have said, or ought to have said, Treatment; I think it actually said Rm107. In any case, it was the entrance to the rooms where cancer patients are treated. The sorts of things that passed through my mind as I followed my wife into the sanctum weren’t really about […]
April 5, 2011
Justice Breyer talks about American Democracy and the Supreme Court
Last night, at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, I listened to Justice Stephen Breyer discuss his ideas on American Democracy and the Rule of Law. He’s a very good speaker with some very illuminating ideas about the strengths and weaknesses of American Democracy. Among other things, he discussed Hamilton’s reasoning concerning having a Supreme […]
April 3, 2011
A strange twist to social network marketing
I inadvertently delved even deeper into the murky depths of social networking when I mentioned my wife’s problems with cancer. I received all the usual automated messages asking for donations or membership that appear after mentioning any major disease. Using a word like measles, cancer, typhoid, or polio usually brings a brief flurry of messages […]
April 1, 2011
Cancer: Bad News Travels Faster than Good News
If I had ever doubted that bad news travels faster than good news, then I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when my wife’s operation reported the presence of a malignant cancer. At first it seemed as if she might get off lightly. There was no evidence that any of the cancer cells […]
March 28, 2011
Happiness and Perfection
I was very disturbed the other day to hear someone pound the table and say that ” we should wait for the perfect solution and we will all be much happier.” Classically, what was so profoundly attractive about our culture was embedded in the single phrase “pursuit of happiness.” To explain, happiness isn’t about joy; […]
March 18, 2011
Valerie Dickison’s New Book “Lydia of Grayfields”
To say that I enjoyed reading Valerie Dickison’s new children’s book, Lydia of Grayfields, would be a gross understatement. I think it will have all the potential for being another Winnie the Pooh. It crosses all age groups, although it is aimed at precocious young pre-teen readers. The subtitle is The Cat that Chose to […]
December 16, 2010
Post-Thanksgiving Depression
Each year I set out optimistically to write my signature piece on the Holidays and wind up in the middle of December without having written a single happy sentence. I was hoping that this his year might be different. The fireplace on the back patio has grown cold and dark before dawn, the wind is […]
November 17, 2010
Pale Fire by Penny Ash
From the moment I met Sasha in the sewers in Moscow I knew I’d be in for fast paced race to the finish. The best part was that I had no idea where that finish was going to be. I don’t believe I’ve ever read in the “erotic alien abduction” genre. In fact, I had […]
November 16, 2010
Astronomer’s Bug
This is a short note to let people know how to scratch that Astronomy itch by going to the Amador Astronomical Society’s webs site. In case you have a telescope, binoculars, or one eye you can still look at the stars and feel a sense of wonder. Right now, every clear evening and if you […]
November 12, 2010
I Couldn’t Possibly Make this Stuff Up
Since returning from our adventures in cold, blustering Boston and the giant lobster in Woods Hole, Texas weather has turned hot and humid. Mustard greens with leaves that only yesterday seemed perfect have developed large holes where grasshoppers are fattening up in an extended Thanksgiving season. The chard has bent over under the weight of […]
November 8, 2010
Tomorrow I will plant an Elm Tree
I returned yesterday from a trip to a cool and rainy Providence, Rhode Island, and a cold and blustering Boston. Our good friend, Jim, took us to eat at a funky place called Julian’s near Federal Hill in Providence where I enjoyed large mound of corned beef served over some honeyed potato strips and fresh […]
October 15, 2010
Blueberry Muffins
I got up at five o’clock this morning, dressed, and turned on the oven to preheat to 400F. The 4:30 A.M. train had already disturbed a most interesting dream in which I had nearly finished my time machine and was adding the final touches to the set of equations which would guide me through the […]
September 27, 2010
Watching Wildlife
For the first time in several months, the morning temperature dropped below 60F. I struck the flint on our first fire in the cast iron chimineas at 6 o’clock in the morning so that we could enjoy our hot coffee while savoring a bit of campfire nostalgia. By the time everyone had arrived, the fire […]
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