November 20, 2015

A Modest Step Toward Sensitivity for Ne, Ze, and Xem

When my mini-donkey, The Viscountess, brayed this morning, I wondered if she may not identify as a jenny, but rather as a jack. Does she perhaps feel herself to be in the wrong body? Did her lovely eyes betray a need for her own safe space? Owing to ...

December 1, 2011

Warning: If There's 'Nuance,' You're Being Had

Clear speaking and clear writing are foundational to clear thinking.  These concepts do not imply a crude command of language or understanding, but rather a solid command of thought.  Unfortunately, clarity of expression is too often confus...

November 20, 2011

Curiosity: The Mysterious Compound

Curiosity is one of God's greatest attributes and one of humanity's coolest characteristics. Love is the power to burst out of limitations and experience unity with other forms.  Curiosity is a form of this power.  It is the impulse, expres...

June 25, 2011

The Death of Art Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

The murder of art and music by modern technologies is an oft-heard plaint these days.  Those accusations really started gaining steam with the advent of personal computers in the 1980s, when tedious lamentations about soulless machines replacing...

November 7, 2010

A Septic System at the Crossroads

The county building department inspector and I were finally standing on the sand next to a hole the size and shape of a vertical grave. According to his business card, young Craig (so we'll call him) was a deputy sanitarian. He was there to approve t...

July 24, 2010

A Curious Case of Sexual Harassment

The following actually happened. Only the names have been changed.As usual, the first chore after entering my cubicle was to read e-mail. One from Human Resources was flagged URGENT, but, skeptical of HR's definition of that term, I read it last. Thi...

June 12, 2010

How I Became a Conservative

It started with a basketball game in 1993. There were two fourth-grade classes in my son's elementary school, and each fielded an eight-player team in an after-school sports league. Both teams were good. My son's team went undefeated during the regul...