Sunday Talks

We are all here on Earth to help others; what on Earth the others are here for, I don’t know. - W. H. Auden Most people enjoy feeling helpful. It’s just immensely satisfying to think that we’ve been supportive, exercised…

I came across a couple of cartoons this week, from Asher Perlman, who cracks me up. There’s some deep wisdom contained beneath the gags, I think. I especially like them because we’ve declared this Sunday “Animal Sunday.” Sometime around now…

Travis and I just returned from an 8-night cruise down the Pacific coast, from Vancouver to Los Angeles. It was spectacular — the weather was perfect, the seas were calm, the ship was beautiful and appointed with every luxurious convenience,…

Every now and then I think you might like to hear something from me nice and easy. But there’s just one thing, you see — I never, ever do anything nice and easy. I always do it nice and rough.…

Recently, I read a review of an exhibition currently on at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The show is called, “Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color.” It places pieces from their extensive collection of ancient Greek and Roman…

Earlier this week, Travis and I were grumbling about something annoying, and he said, “If we can put a man on the Moon, why can’t we _________?” The phrase struck me as one I’ve been hearing my entire life and…

We just watched a beautiful documentary series on HBO, The Last Movie Stars, about the life, careers, and marriage of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman.  I don’t know exactly why we were drawn to it.  It’s not like I'm some…

When we describe something as “full of holes,” that means it seems unsound. Like an argument that can’t stand up to logic. Or a shaky alibi that falls apart under scrutiny. Or a half-baked plan that fails to address how…

I read a sweet news item this week about an English village, Long Newnton, in Gloucestershire. They had a problem with speeding traffic. According to digital signs they’d installed which recorded and alerted speeders, more than 90% of motorists were…

Recently, I was introduced to the idea that there's a difference between a problem and a situation. Problems have solutions.  Situations are simply the way things are.  We can fix problems, try to solve them.  But while we can like…