Best and Worst of Times

Best and Worst of Times

The best and worst of times

During my winter break from teaching in 2013-2014, I spent a month in Myanmar, also known as Burma. That singular trip was the most transformative experience in all my years of overseas travel. While I gained greatly from my trip to Myanmar, it created a long series of haunting questions for me throughout 2014.

The haunting began while in Myanmar. However, I was able to avoid addressing it due to traveling all over the country, visiting pagodas, and talking with the locals. When I came back to the States, I had to address that first question. Interestingly, I had an appointment with Dr. Marchand, my cardiologist, for a routine heart checkup. My heart was fine, but I was wired. However, I asked him the first haunting question. Why was I so driven and engaged? His response was both simple and profound. I had seen the light.

Talk about a cathartic experience. I left Dr. Marchand's office renewed and empowered...until several weeks later when I heard another haunting question. This time the question was about the light that I had seen. What was the light to show me?

A friend of mine had given me a link to the commencement address that Steve Jobs gave at Stanford in 2005. I watched that address and wrote an article about it several years ago. I understood about connecting the dots. However, while having lunch with that friend early in 2014, I talked about another haunting question. I could not explain why going to the protest rally at Sule Pagoda caused me to see the light. As I addressed that lurking question, I started to put the dots together. My experiences in Myanmar related directly to my experiences during the civil right movement in the 60s. Again, another catharsis. I understood Myanmar but also a raft of other dots started to connect.

I felt both relief and freedom. I was happy and understood my life. Nonetheless, another haunting question soon arrived. This question came via the singing of Pete Seeger and the writing of Saul Alinsky. There is in life often a tension between the darkness and the dawn, which the singer and reformer expressed. Alinsky wrote, "We must believe that it is the darkest before the dawn of a beautiful new world. We will see it when we believe it." That insight carried me for another month or so.

Alas, another haunting question. I did not understand the moments of soaring when events occurred, which were followed by the question why. I would attempt to resolve a question and agonize over it until it was resolved. That would produce a respite for me until another question begged an answer. The entire year was a sequence of questions with a month of pondering before gaining understanding.

The sequencing between the good times and the bad times allowed me to accept and comprehend much of 2014. As suddenly as Dr. Marchand said that I had seen the light a year ago, I saw it again thanks to Charles Dickens' opening sentence from A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....":

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There Is a Message in the Mask Listen To the Medical Professionals or Get Sick 08/25/21
What Can We Learn from Art? The Answer Is…. 08/18/21
Trump Is Returning to the White House Today, August 13, 2021 08/13/21
Gandhi’s Tribute to Moh Moh For Her Indomitable Will 08/11/21
It Is Time To Write Poetry Another Teaching Event 08/06/21
It’s Like Déjà Vu All Over Again For Ginger and Me 08/04/21
Sir Gawain, the Knight Doing What a Knight Does 08/01/21
What To Do When Your World Is Out of Control What I Learned from My Family 07/30/21
Ginger Doing the Dance And An Important Takeaway 07/28/21
A Follow-Up to Snow’s Email Another Teaching Moment 07/26/21
How To Achieve Being Venerated, Wise, and Great In Two Steps 07/16/21
Resurrection I’m Alive Along with My Computer, and Ginger 07/07/21
Patriots Past and Present in America On the 4th of July 07/05/21
I Created an Artistic Masterpiece… For Ginger 07/02/21
Let Me Ponder This for a Moment Wake Up, America 06/18/21
Trump In 3-D Dumb, Delusional, and Despicable 06/16/21
Ti Ti is Sweet Seventeen Happy Birthday 06/02/21
Rewriting History While You Were There 05/21/21
The History of Myanmar… Is Being Written Now 05/07/21
Problems Offer a Choice Either a Cul-de-sac or a Challenge 04/23/21
A Religious Disconnect A Human Disconnect 04/21/21
The War of Northern Aggression Isn’t Over Yet 04/14/21
Are You Looking for a Mentor? This is My Advice 04/12/21
A Survivor’s Guide For Living in a Post-Trumpian World 04/09/21
As Kierkegaard Said It Is Either/Or 04/05/21
A Disadvantage of Being a WASPWe All Need to Learn 04/02/21
A Trilogy of Choices Either Rewriting History, Editing History, or Reliving History 03/31/21
I Live in Two WorldsI Have Benefited from One World 03/22/21
t’s All About Being RememberedChoose Wisely 03/10/21
Getting My Second COVID Shot… And Immortality 03/05/21
A Tale of Two Countries And a Present-Day Theme and Variation of Life 03/03/21
What Makes Me Tick and Teach? No Pain, No Gain 03/01/21
We Live in Two Different WorldsChoose Wisely Your World 02/05/21
The Pandas and My PoohAnd Other Followers of Gilgamesh 02/03/21
Who Is That Lady in Yellow?A 21st Century Eppie 02/01/21
Where’s the Proof?The New Me 01/25/21
There are Facts…And There are Fake Facts. 01/20/21
The Gilgamesh EpicThen and Now 01/18/21
The Answer to the Question…What’s It All About, Alfie? 01/15/21
Purposeful LivesOn Steroids 01/13/21
Donald, It Was a Bridge Too FarAnd You Lost, Again. 01/11/21
A Christmas Carol in 2020…It Is in Giving that We Get 12/25/20
Where Is a Martin Niemöller…When We Need an Honest Person? 12/23/20
A Secret About LifeHow To Be Successful 12/21/20
When Opportunity KnocksCarpe Diem 12/18/20
Achilles’ HeelThen and Now 12/16/20
Your Meaning of Being…What Is It? 12/14/20
This Is a Teaching MomentAbout America 12/07/20
Remembering the PastSpring Follows Winter 12/02/20
Blue House Remodeled…With Drive and Determination 11/30/20
A Modafinil Moment…Revisited 11/20/20
Problems Are Catalysts for ChangeBut It Is Up to You 11/18/20
It’s Either/OrTrump Needs to Read Søren Kierkegaard 11/16/20
Emails Past and PresentA Reflection Upon Our World 11/09/20
Discerning the TruthA Means to Live Life 11/04/20
It Was Four Years AgoAnd What a Difference Four Years Makes 11/02/20
Ginger’s Birthday BashI Hope That She Has Many More 10/30/20
We Are Both Dancers…Ginger and I 10/28/20
The Importance of the Sound of Music…According to Nietzsche and Me 10/26/20
On Deciphering the Truth…By Thinking 10/23/20
The Giving and GettingBoth Parties Benefit 10/21/20
Bunker Time A Prediction 10/14/20
Damned If He Does, and Damned If He Doesn’t. On Being on the Horns of a Dilemma 10/12/20
The Devil Made Me Do It. A Presidential Duet 10/09/20
Amazing Grace Or More of the Same Insanity 10/07/20
My Two Worlds…Affect My Life 10/05/20
Bad KarmaSticks to People 10/02/20
Jainism or the JusticeThe Place of Women in the World 09/28/20
Dealing with RealityIn the Human and Canine World 09/18/20
Masks Matter…To Some 09/16/20
I Live in Two Worlds:One in the States and One in Myanmar 09/07/20
There Is More to Dreaming…Than Just Dreaming 08/07/20
Focusing My Stream of ConsciousnessBy Watching a Movie 08/05/20
Ginger and I Have Done the DanceAnd Are Alive 07/22/20
"Give Me a Place to Stand...And I Will Move the World.” 07/20/20
“We See No White-Winged Angels Now…”But We See Little Children 07/01/20
The Morphing Together of a Salt Lamp, Nero, and Cat StevensAn Insight for the Present Day 06/29/20
The Good, the Bad, and the UglyWe Can Do Better 06/26/20
Another of Santayana’s Teaching Moment Maybe We Will Learn This Time 06/24/20
Living in Two Worlds…Part 2The Utopian Time 06/17/20
Living in Two WorldsPart 1 06/15/20
Reflections on My Journey Down the Yellow Brick RoadOur Clocks Are Ticking 06/12/20
An Open-Letter to the WorldTimes They Are a-Changin' 06/05/20
The Use of DrugsDonnie, Aldie, and Dr. Goodspeed 05/27/20
A New Memorial DayDue to the COVID-19 05/25/20
The Thoughts of a DoctorA Teaching Opportunity 05/22/20
Our Reason for BeingDiscover It 05/18/20
Thinking Outside the Box of COVID-19And How You Will Benefit 05/08/20
The World is Dancing…Dancing with Death 04/24/20
Why I Love Inle LakeTwo Reasons 04/22/20
The Week That WasDance on with Determination 04/20/20
“I Could Stand in the Middle of Fifth Avenue….”You Are Standing on Main Streets in America and Shooting 04/13/20
The Brighter Side of LifeSomewhat Brighter 04/10/20
Plague DoctorThen and Now 04/06/20
Understanding Life as We Live ItSonata Pathétique 04/03/20
An Open Letter to Dr. FauciOne American’s Thank You 04/01/20
Another Miracle Drug…Maybe 03/30/20
Another Teaching MomentAbout Times Past 03/27/20
Regarding Dancing with CoronavirusCampbell’s Five Commandments 03/25/20
Let’s Make a DealThanks to Modafinil 03/23/20
The Cave vs Reality...That is the Question. 03/20/20
A Teaching MomentFor Today and the Future 03/18/20
Trump’s NemesisPresident Obama 03/16/20
I Don’t Like FailingModus Operandi 03/13/20
Think Before You ActThen Dare Greatly 03/09/20
Holy TerrorMy Nom De Guerre 03/04/20
How Playing Scrabble Changed My LifeWho Would Have Thought? 02/28/20
What Drives MeBack Then and Now 02/19/20
Snowaka Eppie 02/14/20
Seeing Yourself as Others See You…Which is More Clearly 02/07/20
The Republican TrinitySessions, Bolton, and Roberts 01/31/20
A Present-Day ParableWhich Can Be Understood 01/24/20
I Found Another Incarnation of Bo Bo GyiWhile on Inle Lake 01/15/20
I Found Another Incarnation of Bo Bo GyiWhile on Inle Lake 01/15/20
Theseus and Me A Ball of String or Modafinil 10/02/19
Icarus and Trump On Flying Too Low 09/30/19
Autotelic Vincent, Me, and Modafinil 09/27/19
Vaping vs Guns That is the Question 09/23/19
Perspective What You See Is What You Get. 09/20/19
Plagiarism Sharpie-Gate 09/11/19
Modafinil— The Pill that Stopped My Meandering 09/04/19
My Wonder Drug Modafinil 08/23/19
Either/Or…Part 2 I Can Live with a Dent 08/19/19
Thoughts About Willie Nelson’s Song…. On the Road Again 08/14/19
Starry, Starry Night…. What Do You See? 08/12/19
Trump and White Supremacy The Torch Has Been Passed to a New Generation 08/09/19
Learning Important Lessons About Life… From a U-2 Pilot 08/05/19
Ginger’s Vet My Shrink 07/19/19
The Dog Days of Summer Without Air Conditioning 07/17/19
In the Game of Life… It’s Like Déjà Vu All Over Again 07/10/19
I Did It My Way An Important Mentor 07/08/19
Another Déjà Vu In the Arts and Philosophy 06/07/19
Cowards Die Many Times Before Their Death... In Rome and In Washington. 06/05/19
Nietzsche and Ginger Übermensch or ÜberGinger 05/27/19
The Climate Change Debate Evolved from the Scopes Monkey Trial 05/24/19
Alabama and Abortion… And Sexism 05/20/19
Nietzsche Apparently Read Thoreau But I Have Read Much of Both 05/17/19
Nietzsche, Pathétique, and No Pain, No Gain Part Two of One-Liners 05/15/19
Nietzsche Wanted Two Things in Life: Music and a Dancing God 05/13/19
Purpose of Our Being What’s It All About, Alfie 05/10/19
Pathétique A Way to Live Life 05/03/19
Several Things That I Need in Life And That’s When I Need You 04/24/19
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Jacob Soboroff 04/15/19
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Contacting Clarence Page 04/12/19
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Contacting Rod Stewart 04/10/19
Ti Ti… A Remarkable Young Lady 03/18/19
Dealing with the Reaper By Coming Alive and Living 03/13/19
One Moment in Time Carpe Diem 03/04/19
Before Trump’s America And After Trump’s America 03/01/19
NiC and Narcissus There Is a Better Alternative. 02/27/19
Inferiority Complex Womb Envy vs. Penis Envy 02/25/19
Tintern Abbey Viewed by Wordsworth and Turner 02/18/19
I Made a Mistake… Imagine That 02/13/19
Light at the End of the Tunnel However, the Tunnel is an Illusion 02/06/19
The Value of Pain Can Produce Ultimate Bliss 02/04/19
A Very Brief History of Sexism in Science It All Started with a Blinking Neutron Star 02/01/19
This Essay Addresses Alfie What’s It All About? 01/28/19
Two Despicables Who Saw the Light Colson and Cohen 01/23/19
Reflections 01/09/19
Looking at Life From Both Sides Now 1/7/19
Ginger, My Intelligent Dog… And Aerodynamics 12/24/18
Captain Ahab and His Incarnation In Donald the Dumb 12/10/18
From Mud To Macadam 11/30/18
Sexism in Society Especially in Washington 10/05/18
Teaching Students And Learning as a Teacher 09/24/18
The Pearl of Death Or the Lesson of Life 09/05/18
What Goes Around Comes Around…Again and Again 08/17/18
Deep State Bob Woodward and Me 08/15/18
Be a Dreamer.... And Never Quit Dreaming. 08/10/18
It Is In Giving That We Get Being Like Bobby 08/03/18
The Ripple Effect… “…Can Sweep Down the Mightiest Walls.” 07/23/18
Eppie… Then and Now 07/20/18
It’s All Begins with Making My Bed— Which Ginger Unmakes 07/13/18
The Weaker Sex Will Soon Be the Dominant Sex 07/11/18
Teach Your Children Well Lasko and Trump They are Coming To Get You…. 06/22/18
Ti Ti, Snow, and Fatty Having Fun Without PaPa Al 06/20/18
Pa Lian Pa Lian Burmese Restaurant A Place Where I Learned a History Lesson 06/18/18
Ti Ti And Family Clarity About Dancing Being Arthur Murray in the Real World 06/11/18
Ti Ti And Family Ti Ti and Her Family My Assistants in Myanmar 05/28/18
explaining the dance Explaining Doing the Dance… Man, the Lights Are Bright 05/23/18
who are your mentors Who Are Your Mentors? Here Are Mine 05/21/18
758 Horns Of Dilemma 758 Horns of a Dilemma The House of Cards 05/16/18
Forrester and Jamal Forrester and Jamal You and I 05/11/18
Projection Lock Him Up Projection Lock Him Up 05/07/18
Ginger Is One And Half Ginger is One and a Half Years Old… But What an Eighteen Months 05/04/18
Henny Pennny Henny Penny Cries Out… “The Sky Is Falling.” 05/02/18
dear papa al Dear PaPa Al..... Dear Ti Ti 04/16/18
federick_douglass thumbnail Frederick Douglass A Better Man Than I 04/13/18
holmes-washington thumbnail Sherlock Holmes In Washington While We Drank Ginger Grog 04/04/18
picture-myanmar thumbnail Pictures from My Myanmar Family Pictures…Part II 03/23/18
heart-part thumbnail My Heart Issues—Part II The One That’s Pumping Blood 03/14/18
holmes-death thumbnail Sherlock Holmes Faces Death The Times They Are Changin’ 03/07/18
attempt-to-do thumbnail What Would You Attempt To Do If You Knew You Could Not Fail? 02/21/18
emerging-nation thumbnail An Emerging Nation On Its Way to a Developed Nation 02/19/18
age-revolution thumbnail An Age of Revolution If We But Know What To Do With It 02/16/18
heart-issues thumbnail My Heart Issues Both Hearts 02/14/18
widow-mite thumbnail The Widow’s Mite And the Rich Donald the Dumb 02/09/18
water-horse thumbnail The Water Horse of Loch Ness And Our Water Horses of Life 02/07/18
shopping-spree thumbnail A Shopping Spree With My Three Granddaughters 02/02/18
moh-tin-me thumbnail Moh Moh, Tin Tin, and Me We Are the Incarnations of Bobby 01/31/18
lesson-dreaming thumbnail Lesson Learned About Dreaming I Learned from Bobby 01/22/18
family thumbnail We Are Family Versus Racism 01/19/18
bobby-runt thumbnail Bobby the Runt Turned into Bobby the Leader 01/17/18
another-breakfast thumbnail Another Breakfast with My Shrink Dealing with Dreaming 01/01/18
basil-rathbone thumbnail Basil Rathbone, the Actor But Much More 12/29/17
Dreaming Dreams thumbnail Dreaming Dreams that Never Were... Asking Why Not. 12/15/17
Death Dance thumbnail Doing the Dance... Fathoming the Unfathomable 12/11/17
Blue Eyes thumbnail Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain While Plowing 12/08/17
Femme Fatale thumbnail The Life and Times of a Femme Fatale Mata Hari 12/06/17
Tick-Tock thumbnail Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock... Remember the Past or Repeat It. 11/29/17
Big Fib thumbnail The Big Fib: "I'm, like, a really smart person." 11/27/17
Why Ginger thumbnail Why Ginger? The Hauntings of My Pooh Dog 11/24/17
Sherlock Holmes Secret Weapon thumbnail Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon Watson and Ginger’s Roles 11/22/17
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address thumbnail Lincoln's Gettysburg Address... Then and Now 11/20/17
Tattoo of Pooh thumbnail The Tattoo of My Pooh and Me Ginger and Don Quixote 11/10/17
The Reason thumbnail The Reason Behind... Everything 11/08/17
Jim Crow thumbnail The Jim Crow Laws... Went Beyond Our Borders 11/06/17
Ashley and Michael thumbnail What I Owe Ashley and Michael Wall Removal 10/11/17
Ginger Santayana thumbnail Ginger and Santayana Remember the Past 10/09/17
Lawrence of Arabia thumbnail Lawrence of Arabia One of My Mentors 10/06/17
Double Axe thumbnail The Double-Axe A Symbol of My Identity 09/15/17
When Dreaming thumbnail When Dreams Aren’t Realized What Should You Do? 09/01/17
Essay with No Words thumbnail Essay with No Words But Look At My Eyes 08/21/17
Better Angels thumbnail “Better Angels of Our Nature” In America, Mexico, and Burma 08/19/17
Clarence Page thumbnail Clarence Page and Donald the Dumb— The President of Trump University 08/18/17
Draining the Swap thumbnail Draining the Swamp... And Adding to the Swamp 08/14/17
To Attach or Not Attach thumbnail To Attach or Not to Attach That Is the Question 08/11/17
Ti Ti Poem thumbnail Ti Ti and I A Most Haunting Relationship 08/04/17
Macbeth Hamlet thumbnail Macbeth... Guilt Spills Itself for Fear of Being Spilt 08/02/17
Pentagon Paper thumbnail The Pentagon Papers... Then and Now 07/31/17
Indianapolis Atomic Bomb thumbnail USS Indianapolis and Connecting the Dots Quint, Jack, and Owen 07/26/17
Trinity Oppenheimer thumbnail Oppie The Scientist and the Philosopher 07/17/17
Burma Road thumbnail What Did I Learn... From Vinegar Joe 07/05/17
Impeachment thumbnail Impeachment of Trump And the Tower of Babel 06/30/17
The Ides of June thumbnail The Ides of June And Religious Ties 06/14/17
Grace Under Pressure thumbnail “Grace Under Pressure” The Way to be a Leader 06/12/17
Breaking News thumbnail Breaking News from Ginger About Trump Colluding with the Russians and Putin 06/02/17
Global Warming thumbnail HMS Terror, HMS Erebus, Global Warming… Or Nonsense from Those Godless Chinese Communists 05/26/17
Bridge Builders thumbnail Bridge Builder or Wall Builder A Clear Choice for Donald the Dumb 05/22/17
Morphing Of My World thumbnail Class, Easter Ham, and Kayaking... The Morphing of My World 05/15/17
I'm Not Going Silently thumbnail Do Not Going Gently Into That Good Night I Will Rage 05/05/17
Brexit vs Scoxit thumbnail Brexit vs Scoxit The Death Blow to the British Empire 05/01/17
To Become thumbnail To Become… What You Might Have Been 04/28/17
Getting It Together thumbnail Getting It Together… An Avenue to Acquiring Dreams 04/26/17
The Meaning of Life thumbnail The Meaning of Life It Is All About Fighting the Good Fight for Others 04/19/17
Bowl of Cherries thumbnail Life Is a Bowl of Cherries Or the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men 04/14/17
The Efforts of the Lady thumbnail The Efforts of the Lady vs. The Efforts of Donald the Dumb 04/12/17
the-amazing-process-called-learning thumbnail The Amazing Process Called Learning Thinking Outside the Box 04/05/17
Chick Magnet thumbnail Chick Magnet And the Hauntings 03/31/17
The Hauntings thumbnail The Hauntings About Bobby and the Gingers 03/27/17
On Riding to Samara thumbnail On Riding to Samara Then and Now.... 03/10/17
Invictus thumbnail Invictus Thank You, Mrs. Davis 03/06/17
What Donald the Dumb is Missing in Life? thumbnail What Donald the Dumb is Missing in Life? Eppie 03/01/17
Robert the Bruce thumbnail Robert the Bruce I'll Drink to Him! 02/17/17
Icarus and the Donald thumbnail Icarus and the Donald Warning About Flying Too High 02/03/17
The Meaning of Ginger thumbnail The Meaning of Ginger The Winter Solstice 02/01/17
How Will I Live to My 100th Birthday? thumbnail How Will I Live to My 100th Birthday? Answer: Ikigai 01/20/17
We Don't Have a Democracy... thumbnail We Don't Have a Democracy... Yet Either 01/06/17
A Lesson of Life thumbnail A Lesson of Life Learned from a Cockroach 01/04/17
The Great Value of the Philosophers' Stone... thumbnail The Great Value of the Philosophers' Stone... To Me 12/21/16
Accomplishing Things in Life... thumbnail Accomplishing Things in Life... Even Long Shots 12/16/16
Coping with Butterflies thumbnail Coping with Butterflies Getting Organized 12/07/16
Only Those Who Dare to Fail... thumbnail Only Those Who Dare to Fail... Can Achieve 12/05/16
Moh Moh's Email thumbnail Moh Moh's Email Big Dreams Never Run Smooth 12/02/16
Ivan the Thankful thumbnail Ivan the Thankful And It Wasn't for a Turkey and All the Trimmings 11/24/16
The Lady thumbnail The Lady And the Peacock 11/04/16
What a Difference a Few Years Makes thumbnail What a Difference a Few Years Makes If You Are Joisting with Windmills 10/10/16
The Meaning Behind the Man thumbnail The Meaning Behind the Man The Man of La Mancha 08/29/16
Listening to My Mentors thumbnail Listening to My Mentors And Dreaming Impossible Dreams 08/19/16
The Terrorism Trifecta thumbnail The Terrorism Trifecta Three More Dances with Death 08/12/16
The Kiss thumbnail The Kiss From Life to Death 08/08/16
Bobby Kennedy thumbnail Bobby Kennedy Still Reaches Out to Us. 07/29/16
Prediction of Clinton's Running Mate thumbnail Prediction of Clinton's Running Mate And Her Running Mate Is.... 07/08/16
Bloody Hands and No Backbone thumbnail Bloody Hands and No Backbone What a Legacy 06/20/16
The Angel Spoke... thumbnail The Angel Spoke... And I Listened. 06/10/16
The Thinkers Three thumbnail The Thinkers Three Jack, Owen, and Me 06/06/16
Master Kong Said... thumbnail Master Kong Said... Don't Remember Being Wronged 05/16/16
Mr. Turner thumbnail Mr. Turner The Dualism of Feelings 05/06/16
An Anniversary Has Arrived.... thumbnail An Anniversary Has Arrived.... The Fifth Anniversary. 05/02/16
Morphing of the Flu with Polio thumbnail Morphing of the Flu with Polio A Strange Juxtaposition 04/29/16
I am Don Quixote thumbnail I am Don Quixote But I Am Not from La Mancha 04/15/16
Christopher Reeve thumbnail Christopher Reeve Another Dancer Who Could Also Fly 04/08/16
Learning from My Mentor thumbnail Learning from My Mentor A Knight-Errant On His Deathbed 03/28/16
I Want to Have Dinner for Two thumbnail I Want to Have Dinner for Two A Date and Someone Who Has Done the Dance 03/23/16
On Seeing the Light thumbnail On Seeing the Light Chuck, Paul, and Me 03/04/16
Two Roads in the Wood thumbnail Two Roads in the Wood Choose Wisely 02/26/16
The Art of Beating the Grim Reaper thumbnail The Art of Beating the Grim Reaper Follow Randy Pausch's Example 02/24/16
Grave or No Grave thumbnail Grave or No Grave That is the Question 02/22/16
Best of Times, Worst of Times thumbnail Best of Times, Worst of Times It Is Your Choice; Choose Wisely 02/19/16
I Am Looking for Another Dancer thumbnail I Am Looking for Another Dancer The Ultimate Partner 02/17/16
Buddha's Strange Parable... thumbnail Buddha's Strange Parable... Which We Need to Understand 02/15/16
The Value of Dreaming thumbnail The Value of Dreaming About My List of Dulcineas 02/12/16
Somewhere in Time thumbnail Somewhere in Time The Importance of Memories 02/04/16
The Drinkable Book thumbnail The Drinkable Book I Wish I Had One While in Indochina 02/03/16
Another Dancer thumbnail Another Dancer David Hume 02/01/16
Dreams will come to you.... thumbnail Dreams will come to you.... If You Are True to Your Quest 01/22/16
Miguel Cervantes thumbnail Miguel Cervantes As Don Quixote 01/18/16
"I'm Dying, and I'm Having Fun." Randy Pausch is Correct 01/15/16
The Little Match Girl thumbnail The Little Match Girl And The Golden Statue 01/11/16
The Very Strange Year of 2008 thumbnail The Very Strange Year of 2008 A Year to Remember 01/08/16
The Gift of an Angel thumbnail The Gift of an Angel It is More About My Feelings 01/06/16
Don Quixote and Confucius Told Me thumbnail Don Quixote and Confucius Told Me To Get Off My Arse 12/18/15
Going to Hell in a Handbasket thumbnail Going to Hell in a Handbasket And the Tibetan Mask 12/14/15
Doing the Dance Again thumbnail Doing the Dance Again How to Address Both New Dances 12/11/15
I Know Who I Am... thumbnail I Know Who I Am... And Have Found Two People Who Understand Me 12/04/15
Take Your Passion and Make It Happen thumbnail Take Your Passion and Make It Happen Flashdance Follow-up 11/27/15
Responses to Paris thumbnail Responses to Paris Both Are Vital 11/25/15
Want to See What I'm Wearing for Halloween? thumbnail Want to See What I'm Wearing for Halloween? A Profound Question 11/16/15
Pandora Provides Hope... thumbnail Pandora Provides Hope... Don Quixote Provides Determination 11/09/15
The Campbell Cookie Jar thumbnail The Campbell Cookie Jar The Tie In Between the Past and the Present 10/28/15
Doubling Down... thumbnail Doubling Down... To Make Dreams Come True 10/19/15
The Old Pine Table thumbnail The Old Pine Table An Object of Renewal and Rebirth 10/14/15
It's Confession Time... thumbnail It's Confession Time... And It Isn't Sunday 10/09/15
The Mahogany Bench thumbnail The Mahogany Bench A Place for Dreaming.... 10/07/15
The Little Wooden Box thumbnail The Little Wooden Box An Updated Pandora's Box 09/30/15
A Great Dancer with Death thumbnail A Great Dancer with Death A Sobering Experience 09/21/15
Putting the Pieces Together thumbnail Putting the Pieces Together The Joy of Coming of Age 09/18/15
The Tulip Pitcher thumbnail The Tulip Pitcher A Picture of Springtime 09/16/15
Songs Can Make the World Go Around... thumbnail Songs Can Make the World Go Around... Peacefully. 09/11/15
The Felt Picture thumbnail The Felt Picture A Picture of Hopefulness 09/09/15
A Second Look at Life thumbnail A Second Look at Life Toward the End of Life 09/07/15
Agnes Majors in the Minors thumbnail Agnes Majors in the Minors A Big Fish in a Drying Up Small Pond 09/04/15
The Desire to Ding the Universe thumbnail The Desire to Ding the Universe But Why? 08/28/15
From Whence Does the Spark Come? thumbnail From Whence Does the Spark Come? The Creative Act of Pondering 08/24/15
The Value of Pain thumbnail The Value of Pain Or How to Retrieve the Torpedo 08/21/15
Riders on the Streetcar Named Desire: thumbnail Riders on the Streetcar Named Desire: Elizabeth and Rosa 08/03/15
The Pied Piper of Hamelin thumbnail The Pied Piper of Hamelin A Strange Tale 07/31/15
Dinner with GiGi thumbnail Dinner with GiGi The Socratic Method of an Older Woman 07/17/15
Alan Seeger thumbnail Alan Seeger And His Dance with Death 07/04/15
What I Learned About Life... thumbnail What I Learned About Life... From Facing Down the Dragon 06/29/15
Career Opportunity... thumbnail Career Opportunity... Being a Gladiator 06/19/15
What a Wonderful World thumbnail What a Wonderful World You Think to Yourself.... 06/15/15
The Benefit of Problems thumbnail The Benefit of Problems Or the Only Means to Success 06/08/15
Milky Way and Andromeda's Dance with Death thumbnail Milky Way and Andromeda's Dance with Death Parallels Our Dances with Death 06/03/15
Slaughterhouse-Five thumbnail Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut's Dance with Death 06/01/15
thumbnail Dancing with Death Allows You to Live 05/22/15
It Has Been Seven Years Since I Fell... thumbnail It Has Been Seven Years Since I Fell... And Cracked My Head 05/18/15
Steve Jobs and Charles Dickens thumbnail Steve Jobs and Charles Dickens How to Avoid the Ghosts 05/08/15
Nepal Then thumbnail Nepal Then And Now 05/03/15
We Get Old Too Soon... thumbnail "We Get Old Too Soon... And Wise Too Late" 04/27/15
Fertilizing Daffodils thumbnail Fertilizing Daffodils But in the Meantime.... 04/24/15
How Do We Learn? thumbnail How Do We Learn? The Lessons in Learning 04/13/15
Ode to Joy thumbnail Ode to Joy In the Midst of Pain 03/27/15
Think about the Legacy that You Leave thumbnail Think about the Legacy that You Leave Will Your Relatives Be Proud of You? 03/19/15
Reliving Many Bloody Sundays thumbnail Reliving Many Bloody Sundays Rebirth of the Civil Rights Movement 03/07/15
All Mankind is Divided Into Three Classes... thumbnail "All Mankind is Divided Into Three Classes..." Some Aren't Buried Until They Are Seventy-five 02/23/15
Obama's Golden Opportunity thumbnail Obama's Golden Opportunity On Leaving a Legacy 02/13/15
Man in the Arena thumbnail Man in the Arena "If He Fails, At Least Fails While Daring Greatly" 01/23/15
The Most Dangerous Woman in America thumbnail The Most Dangerous Woman in America Mother Jones and Her Boys 01/16/15
Suffering Yields Success thumbnail Suffering Yields Success Worrying Yields Warts 01/14/14
Every child is an artist. thumbnail "Every Child is an Artist." The Question is What Remains in Adulthood? 01/12/15
Ozone to Ferguson thumbnail Ozone to Ferguson A Journey That Never Seems To End 01/05/15