Slouching towards bliss
A few years ago, I came across this sentence, which was attributed to the US Army Ranger Handbook: “The two greatest general threats to survival … Read more
Citizenship
In a recent edition of “The New Yorker,” Jill Lepore offers this opinion on taxes: “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society, for modernity, … Read more
When Death Comes
I had never heard of the poet Mary Oliver until about 1994 when I was browsing the poetry section of a bookstore in Seattle on … Read more
Haiku on dogs
Here are four haiku about dogs. My current dog is Milo, a mongrel I adopted from the Multnomah County Animal Shelter. The haiku follow the … Read more
What is important in life?
This is an exercise that was part of a training session I took more than thirty years ago to become a hospice patient volunteer. I … Read more
Beekeeping – Basic points and keys to success
I have kept bees since the mid-1990s. I started with two colonies, moved to six my second year, and on up to about forty, although … Read more
Thinking for oneself
A recent op-ed piece in the New York Times discusses the dangers of social media to our political system. Several sentences in the piece got … Read more