Jun
13
That kid trying to zip his coat
How often can one distracted writer yearn to be a 4-year-old trying to zip his coat?
5 min read
essay
Mar
15
Shame on you, Atticus Finch!
The blue jay is a magnificent bird, the punk rocker of the feeder with its crest of blue feathers standing straight up on its head, brash and raucous as it takes the stage, loud as the Ramones.
2 min read
Mar
11
You’re good to go, Cortés; you too, John Winthrop
Viking raiders in the 8th and 9th centuries left no evidence that they ever bothered to rationalize pillaging the British Isles. Seven centuries later, something had changed.
4 min read
Jan
11
Grumps produce the best lists
Whatever your age, the rest of your life is all you’ve got, so it’s worth thinking about. We embrace a core paradox: Though life has no intrinsic meaning, we can and should lead meaningful lives. If you have any hope of living a meaningful adult life, the one vital question is, “How do I live?”
4 min read
Jan
07
If you already know what “opsimath” means you can skip this one
The doctor fancies himself an opsimath because he now wants to understand things that take 70 years of life to fathom, 70 years of intellectual crop rotation.
4 min read
Dec
31
Let’s resolve to do it some more
The doctor does not have goals. The doctor has a life and an intention. The latter is to spend as much of the former as possible reading, thinking, and writing.
2 min read
Dec
15
Be happy, don't worry, and don't try to write about it
For reasons that ever elude me, I find it much easier to craft language to convey anger or sadness or poignancy or fear than to convey simple joy.
4 min read