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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It Was the Best of Times
It Was the Worst of Times....
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01/01/15
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What If....
It's All About My Mantra.
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11/13/24 |
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Puerto Rico
Then and Now
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11/11/24 |
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Amid the Chaos
A Suggestion about the Next Four Years
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11/08/24 |
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It's a Long, Long Road
From Which There is No Return
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11/04/24 |
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Who is the Headless Horseman?
But First, the Background
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11/01/24 |
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A Saint and a Sinner
Michelle Obama and Lev Parnas
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10/30/24 |
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Happy Birthday Ginger
She Turned Eight Today
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10/28/24 |
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What I Admire about Kamala
And How She Will Change America
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10/25/24 |
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Robert Reich Paying Homage...
To a Special American
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10/23/24 |
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Trump is Correct...Partially
He Just Missed Who the Enemy Was
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10/16/24 |
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What’s With the Water?
Water, Water, Everywhere
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10/14/24 |
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Life Will Improve
If You Use More than One Silo
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10/11/24 |
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Professor Keating and I
We Both Took Mrs. Davis’s English Class
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10/07/24 |
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Another Set of Photos for Ti Ti
Remain Driven in Life
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10/04/24 |
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Trump Psychoanalyzes Harris
But He Reveals His Psych Issues in the Process
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10/02/24 |
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Another Eureka Moment
Thank You, Nancy
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09/30/24 |
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“I Want To Be Your Protector”
Said the Neanderthal
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09/27/24 |
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Following in the Footsteps of Lt. Zogg
It’s All About Being Determined
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09/25/24 |
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The Virgin King
Enjoying Life in Another World
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09/20/24 |
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Discovering a Mentor
In a Field of Dreams
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09/13/24 |
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Creating Fortress America
Thoughts of Vulgar Vance
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09/06/24 |
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Becoming a Monkey King
It's More Than Mere Monkey Business
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09/04/24 |
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Ginger Has Done the Dance
We Are Bonded as Dancers
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08/21/24 |
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Destiny or Fate
It is Another Either/Or Issue
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08/16/24 |
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Get With It
Roar Like a Lion
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08/07/24 |
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You Know that You Are Getting Old
When You Don’t Know All the New Words and Slogans
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08/05/24 |
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Lessons Learned in Former British Colonies
Like America, South Africa, and Myanmar
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07/31/24 |
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The Third Old Man
Or Three Coins in the Fountain of Life
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07/29/24 |
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A Story of Two Old Men
And How They Will Be Remembered
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07/26/24 |
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Ukraine and Myanmar
An Unfortunate Parallel
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07/15/24 |
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A Parable about Geese
Waddle or Fly
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07/10/24 |
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It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again
With the Father and Son
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07/05/24 |
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Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
What Would Kierkegaard Do?
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07/03/24 |
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How Will We Be Remembered
Another Either / Or Essay
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06/28/24 |
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Ethnic Cleansing
Then and Now
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06/26/24 |
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Christian Nationalism
Who are These Christians?
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06/24/24 |
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We Need to Get Honest
Much Sooner Than Later
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06/19/24 |
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The Sickness Is Spreading
Among Many Americans
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06/14/24 |
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I’m Leading Death Again
On My Dancefloor of Life
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06/10/24 |
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Let Me Get This Straight
Trump Is An Innocent Man
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06/07/24 |
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Learning from Kipling
“You’re a Better Man than I Am, Gunga Din!”
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06/05/24 |
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What’s It All About, Alfie
According to Longfellow
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05/31/24 |
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We Still Aren’t Independent of England
Many Still Have the Same Mindset
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05/29/24 |
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Repeating the Past
Make Sure You Understand the Past
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05/24/24 |
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My Grandmother’s Words
Haunt and Inspire Me
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05/20/24 |
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Every Day is Like Survival
You're My Lover Not My Rival
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05/13/24 |
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A Very Stable Genius
Is Loose and Running Around
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05/06/24 |
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The Flying Dutchman
Then and Now
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05/03/24 |
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Trump’s Roosting Chickens
Are Coming Home to Roost
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05/01/24 |
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Rudy, Be Careful with Your Rants
You Should Have Watched Men in Black
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04/29/24 |
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Still I Rise
Despite Racism
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04/26/24 |
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Field of Dreams
A Haunting Return
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04/24/24 |
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Lincoln and His Better Angels
Or Trump and His Worst Demons
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04/22/24 |
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Repeating Bad History
Creates Newer Bad History
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04/10/24 |
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What I Discovered
When I Wasn’t Looking
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04/08/24 |
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Bush’s Bus Ride
Leadership or Roadkills
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04/05/24 |
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Ginger Trains Her Owner
And I’m Obedient
|
04/03/24 |
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The Real Mona Lisa
Or the Fake Ones
|
03/25/24 |
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Standing on the Hill
Our Human Destiny
|
03/20/24 |
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Träumerei
Then and Now
|
03/15/24 |
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Trump Has Some Issues with Taylor Swift
Beyond His Legal Woes and Coming Up with a Half Billion Dollars
|
03/11/24 |
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I Have Issues with Justice Thomas
The Holier Than Thou Mindset
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03/08/24 |
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It’s Better to Burn Out
Than to Fade Away
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03/06/24 |
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Ginger’s New Fashion Statement
Keeping Her Happy and Healthy
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03/04/24 |
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Music and Me
The Cost of Love Then and Now
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03/01/24 |
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And a Sickness Too Took Root
Donald the Dumb Has Rooted
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02/28/24 |
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Odysseus’ Long, Long Journey
Both Odysseus and Odie
|
02/26/24 |
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Another Bedtime Story for Trump
About Aaron and the Donald
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02/21/24 |
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Kicking the Can Down the Road, Again
50th Mass Shootings in America This Year
|
02/16/24 |
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St. Valentine’s Day
The Real St. Valentine’s Day
|
02/14/24 |
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If I Were in Charge of Education
This is What I Would Mandate
|
02/12/24 |
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The Box or Jar of Pandora
Another Parable
|
02/07/24 |
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The Two Faces of Prometheus
Which Face Will You Pick?
|
02/05/24 |
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Trump Wasn’t the First Trump
There Have Been Others
|
02/02/24 |
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The Past is a Precursor
To the Future
|
01/31/24 |
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The Achilles’ Heel
Of the Republicans
|
01/29/24 |
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My Birthday
And the Age of Aquarius
|
01/24/24 |
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Artificial Intelligence
Past, Present, and Future
|
01/10/24 |
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Infallibility of Trump
And the Divine Right of Kings
|
01/08/24 |
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Starting a New Year
With a New Battery and Insight
|
01/01/24 |
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Unexpected Events
Can Create Opportunities for Greatness
|
12/25/23 |
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Do You Hear the People Sing...
Who Will Not Be Slaves Again!
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12/22/23 |
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Why Write?
Answers from Vonnegut and Faulkner
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12/20/23 |
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Solar Flares and CMEs
Impending Impact
|
12/18/23 |
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The Paradox of Learning
It Is an Either/Or Knowledge Base
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12/13/23 |
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My Yin Yang World
Dreams vs. Reality
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12/08/23 |
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The Orange Jesus...
Is from a Planet in the Andromeda Galaxy
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12/04/23 |
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Ginger’s Gift to Dr. Derrè
Ginger Stated, “Dr. Derrè’s My Vet”
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12/01/23 |
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What Would T.E. Lawrence Do
In Gaza and Israel?
|
11/29/23 |
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The Evolution of Thanksgiving
A Long and Winding Road
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11/24/23 |
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A Future Thanksgiving
Far, Far Away
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11/22/23 |
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The Royal We
Revisited
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11/17/23 |
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Let Me Get This Straight
“If you go after me, I’m coming after you.”
|
11/13/23 |
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On the Road Again
Ginger, the Pooh Dog, and Me
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11/10/23 |
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Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
A Lesson Taught by Dylan Thomas
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11/06/23 |
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The Ripple Effect
An Either/Or Issue
|
11/01/23 |
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Ginger’s 7th Birthday
What’s Life All About, Alfie?
|
10/30/23 |
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Sagan’s Golden Records
On the Horns of a Dilemma
|
10/27/23 |
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Flipper...
Let the Show Begin
|
10/23/23 |
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Breath of Fresh Air
From My Web Administrator
|
10/20/23 |
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Me and My Echocardiogram
Beyond a Diagnosis
|
10/18/23 |
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Lawrence of Arabia...
A Mentor of Mine
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10/11/23 |
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Let’s Do the Math
It is an Either/Or Choice
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10/09/23 |
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Kevin Needs Therapy
And a Newer Gaming Video
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10/06/23 |
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Ginger’s Check-Up
Again, at Purdue Veterinary Hospital
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10/04/23 |
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Casablanca...
Then and Now
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09/29/23 |
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The Evolution of Humans
To the Present Day
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09/27/23 |
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Ancient Greeks and the Fear Factor
The Truth about the Fear Factor
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09/25/23 |
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My Second Shot
Or the First Insurrection
|
09/22/23 |
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My World of Xanadu
Another Personal Parallel Essay
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09/20/23 |
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Tyson’s Two Thoughts
Regarding AI and a Ticking Clock
|
09/15/23 |
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The Importance of Happenstance
For Heavenly Clauses
|
09/08/23 |
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Jumping Hoops for a Prescription
Raises Ethical Issues at Various Levels
|
09/04/23 |
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Another Dance for Ginger
Learn and Live in the Moment
|
09/01/23 |
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Before Burning Books...
We Need to Read Them
|
08/30/23 |
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The Source of Trump’s Mug Shot
It’s Naissance was Wagner
|
08/28/23 |
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Holding Hands with Neal Katyal
What My Teacher Taught Me
|
08/21/23 |
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Hollow Men
Two Troubled Souls
|
08/18/23 |
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Thomas and Trump
The Teacher and Student
|
08/16/23 |
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Grasp This Truism
From St. Francis and Buddha
|
08/07/23 |
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Oppie and Me
The Similarities are Striking
|
07/24/23 |
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Looking for a Mentor?
Try Jacques Portefaix or Marie-Jeane Valet
|
07/21/23 |
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The Synchronicity of My Mentors
Bobby and Don Quixote
|
07/19/23 |
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The Clown Car Drivers
Are Driving Scared
|
06/30/23 |
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The Tree in the Silo
A Metaphor of Me
|
06/23/23 |
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Pick Mentors Carefully
The Lady and Bobby
|
06/02/23 |
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Be a Sherpa
Whether or Not You are a Beekeeper or Nepalese
|
05/31/23 |
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A Suggestion of a Mentor
A Sequel to Picking a Mentor Article
|
04/07/23 |
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Run That Past Me Again.
It Doesn’t Make Sense.
|
03/31/23 |
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Witch Hunts
Question: Who Is the Witch?
|
03/29/23 |
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Tucker’s Talk
Is Double-Talk
|
03/24/23 |
|
Rewriting the Past
By Editing or Deleting It
|
03/22/23 |
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Ginger and I
Our Trip Down the Yellow Brick Road
|
03/13/23 |
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Music Explains Me
Music Drives Me
|
03/03/23 |
|
Flash: Trump is in Kyiv
To Meet with Zelensky
|
03/01/23 |
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Jabbering Parrots
What We Can Learn from Churchill and Buffett
|
02/22/23 |
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Inherit the Wind
And You Will Be Gone with the Wind
|
02/20/23 |
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Threading the Needle
To Address Racism
|
02/17/23 |
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TV Commercials
Five Pros and One Con
|
02/15/23 |
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Learning from Lao Tzu
To Live Life Daringly
|
02/13/23 |
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Fatty and Bo Bo Gyi
Addressing Our Nation’s Problems
|
02/06/23 |
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Let’s Get Honest
About White Camelot
|
02/03/23 |
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Education is a Double-Edged Sword
How To Address Learning
|
02/01/23 |
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Aggressive Chimpanzees
Outside of Africa
|
01/30/23 |
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What Causes Stupidity?
Lying or Lack of Knowledge
|
01/13/23 |
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Grasping Reality
I Can’t Explain It
|
01/09/23 |
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The Benefit of Pain
Take Advantage of It
|
01/02/23 |
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It’s All About We
An Important Lesson of Life
|
12/26/22 |
|
Repeating the Past
It’s Just Fake News
|
12/14/22 |
|
Problems are Assets
Seize the Problems
|
12/09/22 |
|
The Reckoning Day
Of the Invincibles
|
12/07/22 |
|
A Soccer and Hockey Game
What’s the Take Away?
|
12/05/22 |
|
My Way
Morphing to My Mentoring
|
12/02/22 |
|
What World Are We Living In?
The Denier’s World
|
11/23/22 |
|
A Swan Song
Then and Now
|
11/18/22 |
|
Finger Pointing
It’s Their Fault....
|
11/16/22 |
|
Trilogy of Diseases
How Are You Going to Address the Trilogy?
|
08/12/22 |
|
An Important Teaching Moment
Joe and I Are Twins
|
08/10/22 |
|
John Gotti
Alias Teflon Don and Dapper Don
|
07/29/22 |
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One of My Mantras
Gals Pick Your Mentors Carefully
|
07/27/22 |
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My Place in the Universe
I Don’t Want to be Lost in Space
|
07/15/22 |
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Learn from William Wallace and Gilgamesh
As We Journey Down Our Yellow Brick Roads
|
07/13/22 |
|
Learning from the Japanese
About What We Don’t Know
|
07/11/22 |
|
Alan Turing
Thinking Outside the Box
|
07/6/22 |
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Trouble in River City
Come Hell or High Water
|
06/24/22 |
|
Miah Is the 21st Century Eppie
A Hand Is Put Into Theirs….
|
06/17/22 |
|
Which Memorial Day Should Be Observed?
It Is an Either/Or Question.
|
05/30/22 |
|
A Backed-Up Sewer
Created a Parable
|
04/27/22 |
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We Are All Greeks
Some To a Much Lesser Extent
|
04/25/22 |
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Seeing the Future
At Least Three Times
|
03/30/22 |
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My Family in Myanmar:
A Sequel to What’s It All About
|
03/28/22 |
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The Problem with Yes-Men
Who Say Yes All the Time
|
03/23/22 |
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Ginger and I
What’s It All About and Why?
|
03/21/22 |
|
The Helter-Skelter Mindset1
Locally and Globally
|
03/09/22 |
|
My Great-Granddaughter
A Younger Version of My Granddaughters
|
03/07/22 |
|
Two Military Leaders
Parker and Lee
|
03/04/22 |
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A Tale of Two Leaders:
Address Their Rivals
|
03/02/22 |
|
Unintended Consequences
From Easter Island
|
02/28/22 |
|
If Everything Around You Seems Dark…
Look Again. You May Be the Light.
|
02/26/22 |
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Putin’s Legacy
Gilgamesh’s Lesson
|
02/23/22 |
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History Is Repetitious
Then and Now
|
02/21/22 |
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My Latest Himalayan Salt Lamp
A Parable for Today
|
02/14/22 |
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The Tale of My Foot
Years Ago and Today
|
02/11/22 |
|
Parallels Between Myanmar and America
Even Though They Are On the Other Side of the World
|
02/04/22 |
|
My Dream of Diversity
In the Footsteps of Bobby
|
02/02/22 |
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Diversity Is the Answer
But What Is the Question?
|
01/31/22 |
|
Two Countries
Living in One World
|
01/24/22 |
|
A Sequel to My Dreamland Journey…
To the Brighter Side of Life
|
01/21/22 |
|
My Dreamland
During My Operation
|
01/19/22 |
|
Coming to America
A Dream of Many
|
01/17/22 |
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Christmas:
Past, Present, and Future
|
12/24/21 |
|
The Operation Was Successful
But No Microchip Was Found
|
12/17/21 |
|
Free To Be Me…
Somewhat
|
12/15/21 |
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Two Dreamers...
Discuss the Way the World Should Be
|
12/08/21 |
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Archimedes and the Syracusia
It’s All About Dreaming
|
12/01/21 |
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It All Started with Roger Williams
Which Needs To Be Revisited
|
11/24/21 |
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It Starts with Education…
And Ends with Reform.
|
11/10/21 |
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The Duality of Changing
Times Change, and We Change
|
10/22/21 |
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Societal Dreaming
Delayed but Not Dashed
|
10/18/21 |
|
My Takeaway
From the Great Chicago Fire
|
10/08/21 |
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Ti Ti and Education
Why Is Education Critical?
|
10/04/21 |
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What’s All This About Women?
The Times They Are A-Changin’ Ever So Slowly
|
10/01/21 |
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Once Upon a Midnight Dreary….
“Ride, Boldly Ride”
|
09/27/21 |
|
Quoth the Raven
My Medical Diagnosis
|
09/22/21 |
|
Revisiting Gilgamesh
A Teaching Moment
|
09/17/21 |
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The Dual Negativisms…
Of Racism and Sexism
|
09/08/21 |
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The Pros and Cons…
Of Replicating Our Parents
|
09/06/21 |
|
“I’m Doing the Dance”
The Title of Ti Ti’s Poem
|
09/03/21 |
|
Snow’s Poem
About Her New Normal
|
09/01/21 |
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Realizing the New Normal
What’s All About, Alfie?
|
08/30/21 |
|
There Is a Message in the Mask
Listen To the Medical Professionals or Get Sick
|
08/25/21 |
|
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 |
|
Sir Gawain, the Knight
Doing What a Knight Does
|
08/01/21 |
|
Ginger Doing the Dance
And An Important Takeaway
|
07/28/21 |
|
A Follow-Up to Snow’s Email
Another Teaching Moment
|
07/26/21 |
|
Resurrection
I’m Alive Along with My Computer, and Ginger
|
07/07/21 |
|
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 |
|
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 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 |
|
A Tale of Two Countries And a Present-Day Theme and Variation of Life |
03/03/21 |
|
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 |
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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 |
|
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 |
|
Achilles’ HeelThen and Now |
12/16/20 |
|
Remembering the PastSpring Follows Winter |
12/02/20 |
|
Blue House Remodeled…With Drive and Determination |
11/30/20 |
|
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 |
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Ginger’s Birthday BashI Hope That She Has Many More |
10/30/20 |
|
We Are Both Dancers…Ginger and I |
10/28/20 |
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The Importance of the Sound of Music…According to Nietzsche and Me |
10/26/20 |
|
The Giving and GettingBoth Parties Benefit |
10/21/20 |
|
Bunker Time A Prediction |
10/14/20 |
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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 |
|
"Give Me a Place to Stand...And I Will Move the World.” |
07/20/20 |
|
Another of Santayana’s Teaching Moment Maybe We Will Learn This
Time
|
06/24/20 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
An Open Letter to Dr. FauciOne American’s Thank You
|
04/01/20 |
|
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 |
|
What Drives MeBack Then and Now
|
02/19/20 |
|
Snowaka Eppie
|
02/14/20 |
|
The Republican TrinitySessions, Bolton, and Roberts
|
01/31/20 |
|
A Present-Day ParableWhich Can Be Understood
|
01/24/20 |
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
Nietzsche and Ginger
Übermensch or ÜberGinger
|
05/27/19
|
|
The Climate Change Debate
Evolved from the Scopes Monkey Trial
|
05/24/19
|
|
Nietzsche Apparently Read Thoreau
But I Have Read Much of Both
|
05/17/19
|
|
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
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
|
|
Looking at Life
From Both Sides Now
|
1/7/19
|
|
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
|
|
The Ripple Effect…
“…Can Sweep Down the Mightiest Walls.”
|
07/23/18
|
|
Eppie…
Then and Now
|
07/20/18
|
|
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 Burmese Restaurant
A Place Where I Learned a History Lesson
|
06/18/18
|
|
Clarity About Dancing
Being Arthur Murray in the Real World
|
06/11/18
|
|
Ti Ti and Her Family
My Assistants in Myanmar
|
05/28/18
|
|
Explaining Doing the Dance…
Man, the Lights Are Bright
|
05/23/18
|
|
Who Are Your Mentors?
Here Are Mine
|
05/21/18
|
|
758 Horns of a Dilemma
The House of Cards
|
05/16/18
|
|
Forrester and Jamal
You and I
|
05/11/18
|
|
Projection
Lock Him Up
|
05/07/18
|
|
Ginger is One and a Half Years Old…
But What an Eighteen Months
|
05/04/18
|
|
Henny Penny Cries Out…
“The Sky Is Falling.”
|
05/02/18
|
|
Dear PaPa Al.....
Dear Ti Ti
|
04/16/18
|
|
Frederick Douglass
A Better Man Than I
|
04/13/18
|
|
Sherlock Holmes In Washington
While We Drank Ginger Grog
|
04/04/18
|
|
My Heart Issues—Part II
The One That’s Pumping Blood
|
03/14/18
|
|
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
The Times They Are Changin’
|
03/07/18
|
|
What Would You Attempt To Do
If You Knew You Could Not Fail?
|
02/21/18
|
|
An Emerging Nation
On Its Way to a Developed Nation
|
02/19/18
|
|
An Age of Revolution
If We But Know What To Do With It
|
02/16/18
|
|
My Heart Issues
Both Hearts
|
02/14/18
|
|
The Widow’s Mite
And the Rich Donald the Dumb
|
02/09/18
|
|
The Water Horse of Loch Ness
And Our Water Horses of Life
|
02/07/18
|
|
A Shopping Spree
With My Three Granddaughters
|
02/02/18
|
|
Moh Moh, Tin Tin, and Me
We Are the Incarnations of Bobby
|
01/31/18
|
|
Lesson Learned About Dreaming
I Learned from Bobby
|
01/22/18
|
|
We Are Family
Versus Racism
|
01/19/18
|
|
Bobby the Runt
Turned into Bobby the Leader
|
01/17/18
|
|
Doing the Dance...
Fathoming the Unfathomable
|
12/11/17
|
|
Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock...
Remember the Past or Repeat It.
|
11/29/17
|
|
The Big Fib:
"I'm, like, a really smart person."
|
11/27/17
|
|
Why Ginger?
The Hauntings of My Pooh Dog
|
11/24/17
|
|
The Tattoo of My Pooh and Me
Ginger and Don Quixote
|
11/10/17
|
|
The Reason Behind...
Everything
|
11/08/17
|
|
The Jim Crow Laws...
Went Beyond Our Borders
|
11/06/17
|
|
Ginger and Santayana
Remember the Past
|
10/09/17
|
|
Lawrence of Arabia
One of My Mentors
|
10/06/17
|
|
The Double-Axe
A Symbol of My Identity
|
09/15/17
|
|
When Dreams Aren’t Realized
What Should You Do?
|
09/01/17
|
|
Essay with No Words
But Look At My Eyes
|
08/21/17
|
|
“Better Angels of Our Nature”
In America, Mexico, and Burma
|
08/19/17
|
|
Clarence Page and Donald the Dumb—
The President of Trump University
|
08/18/17
|
|
Draining the Swamp...
And Adding to the Swamp
|
08/14/17
|
|
To Attach or Not to Attach
That Is the Question
|
08/11/17
|
|
Ti Ti and I
A Most Haunting Relationship
|
08/04/17
|
|
Macbeth...
Guilt Spills Itself for Fear of Being Spilt
|
08/02/17
|
|
The Pentagon Papers...
Then and Now
|
07/31/17
|
|
Oppie
The Scientist and the Philosopher
|
07/17/17
|
|
What Did I Learn...
From Vinegar Joe
|
07/05/17
|
|
Impeachment of Trump
And the Tower of Babel
|
06/30/17
|
|
The Ides of June
And Religious Ties
|
06/14/17
|
|
“Grace Under Pressure”
The Way to be a Leader
|
06/12/17
|
|
Breaking News from Ginger
About Trump Colluding with the Russians and Putin
|
06/02/17
|
|
HMS Terror, HMS Erebus, Global Warming…
Or Nonsense from Those Godless Chinese Communists
|
05/26/17
|
|
Bridge Builder or Wall Builder
A Clear Choice for Donald the Dumb
|
05/22/17
|
|
Class, Easter Ham, and Kayaking...
The Morphing of My World
|
05/15/17
|
|
Brexit vs Scoxit
The Death Blow to the British Empire
|
05/01/17
|
|
To Become…
What You Might Have Been
|
04/28/17
|
|
Getting It Together…
An Avenue to Acquiring Dreams
|
04/26/17
|
|
The Meaning of Life
It Is All About Fighting the Good Fight for Others
|
04/19/17
|
|
Life Is a Bowl of Cherries
Or the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
|
04/14/17
|
|
The Efforts of the Lady
vs. The Efforts of Donald the Dumb
|
04/12/17
|
|
Chick Magnet
And the Hauntings
|
03/31/17
|
|
The Hauntings
About Bobby and the Gingers
|
03/27/17
|
|
On Riding to Samara
Then and Now....
|
03/10/17
|
|
Invictus
Thank You, Mrs. Davis
|
03/06/17
|
|
Robert the Bruce
I'll Drink to Him!
|
02/17/17
|
|
Icarus and the Donald
Warning About Flying Too High
|
02/03/17
|
|
The Meaning of Ginger
The Winter Solstice
|
02/01/17
|
|
A Lesson of Life
Learned from a Cockroach
|
01/04/17
|
|
Coping with Butterflies
Getting Organized
|
12/07/16
|
|
Moh Moh's Email
Big Dreams Never Run Smooth
|
12/02/16
|
|
Ivan the Thankful
And It Wasn't for a Turkey and All the Trimmings
|
11/24/16
|
|
The Lady
And the Peacock
|
11/04/16
|
|
What a Difference a Few Years Makes
If You Are Joisting with Windmills
|
10/10/16
|
|
The Meaning Behind the Man
The Man of La Mancha
|
08/29/16
|
|
Listening to My Mentors
And Dreaming Impossible Dreams
|
08/19/16
|
|
The Terrorism Trifecta
Three More Dances with Death
|
08/12/16
|
|
The Kiss
From Life to Death
|
08/08/16
|
|
Bobby Kennedy
Still Reaches Out to Us.
|
07/29/16
|
|
Prediction of Clinton's Running Mate
And Her Running Mate Is....
|
07/08/16
|
|
The Angel Spoke...
And I Listened.
|
06/10/16
|
|
The Thinkers Three
Jack, Owen, and Me
|
06/06/16
|
|
Master Kong Said...
Don't Remember Being Wronged
|
05/16/16
|
|
Mr. Turner
The Dualism of Feelings
|
05/06/16
|
|
An Anniversary Has Arrived....
The Fifth Anniversary.
|
05/02/16
|
|
Morphing of the Flu with Polio
A Strange Juxtaposition
|
04/29/16
|
|
I am Don Quixote
But I Am Not from La Mancha
|
04/15/16
|
|
Christopher Reeve
Another Dancer Who Could Also Fly
|
04/08/16
|
|
Learning from My Mentor
A Knight-Errant On His Deathbed
|
03/28/16
|
|
I Want to Have Dinner for Two
A Date and Someone Who Has Done the Dance
|
03/23/16
|
|
On Seeing the Light
Chuck, Paul, and Me
|
03/04/16
|
|
Two Roads in the Wood
Choose Wisely
|
02/26/16
|
|
The Art of Beating the Grim Reaper
Follow Randy Pausch's Example
|
02/24/16
|
|
Grave or No Grave
That is the Question
|
02/22/16
|
|
Best of Times, Worst of Times
It Is Your Choice; Choose Wisely
|
02/19/16
|
|
Buddha's Strange Parable...
Which We Need to Understand
|
02/15/16
|
|
The Value of Dreaming
About My List of Dulcineas
|
02/12/16
|
|
Somewhere in Time
The Importance of Memories
|
02/04/16
|
|
The Drinkable Book
I Wish I Had One While in Indochina
|
02/03/16
|
|
Another Dancer
David Hume
|
02/01/16
|
|
Dreams will come to you....
If You Are True to Your Quest
|
01/22/16
|
|
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
And The Golden Statue
|
01/11/16
|
|
The Gift of an Angel
It is More About My Feelings
|
01/06/16
|
|
Going to Hell in a Handbasket
And the Tibetan Mask
|
12/14/15
|
|
Doing the Dance Again
How to Address Both New Dances
|
12/11/15
|
|
I Know Who I Am...
And Have Found Two People Who Understand Me
|
12/04/15
|
|
Responses to Paris
Both Are Vital
|
11/25/15
|
|
Pandora Provides Hope...
Don Quixote Provides Determination
|
11/09/15
|
|
The Campbell Cookie Jar
The Tie In Between the Past and the Present
|
10/28/15
|
|
Doubling Down...
To Make Dreams Come True
|
10/19/15
|
|
The Old Pine Table
An Object of Renewal and Rebirth
|
10/14/15
|
|
It's Confession Time...
And It Isn't Sunday
|
10/09/15
|
|
The Mahogany Bench
A Place for Dreaming....
|
10/07/15
|
|
The Little Wooden Box
An Updated Pandora's Box
|
09/30/15
|
|
A Great Dancer with Death
A Sobering Experience
|
09/21/15
|
|
Putting the Pieces Together
The Joy of Coming of Age
|
09/18/15
|
|
The Tulip Pitcher
A Picture of Springtime
|
09/16/15
|
|
The Felt Picture
A Picture of Hopefulness
|
09/09/15
|
|
A Second Look at Life
Toward the End of Life
|
09/07/15
|
|
Agnes Majors in the Minors
A Big Fish in a Drying Up Small Pond
|
09/04/15
|
|
From Whence Does the Spark Come?
The Creative Act of Pondering
|
08/24/15
|
|
The Value of Pain
Or How to Retrieve the Torpedo
|
08/21/15
|
|
Dinner with GiGi
The Socratic Method of an Older Woman
|
07/17/15
|
|
Alan Seeger
And His Dance with Death
|
07/04/15
|
|
What I Learned About Life...
From Facing Down the Dragon
|
06/29/15
|
|
Career Opportunity...
Being a Gladiator
|
06/19/15
|
|
What a Wonderful World
You Think to Yourself....
|
06/15/15
|
|
The Benefit of Problems
Or the Only Means to Success
|
06/08/15
|
|
Slaughterhouse-Five
Vonnegut's Dance with Death
|
06/01/15
|
|
Dancing with Death
Allows You to Live
|
05/22/15
|
|
Steve Jobs and Charles Dickens
How to Avoid the Ghosts
|
05/08/15
|
|
Nepal Then
And Now
|
05/03/15
|
|
"We Get Old Too Soon...
And Wise Too Late"
|
04/27/15
|
|
Fertilizing Daffodils
But in the Meantime....
|
04/24/15
|
|
How Do We Learn?
The Lessons in Learning
|
04/13/15
|
|
Ode to Joy
In the Midst of Pain
|
03/27/15
|
|
Think about the Legacy that You Leave
Will Your Relatives Be Proud of You?
|
03/19/15
|
|
Reliving Many Bloody Sundays
Rebirth of the Civil Rights Movement
|
03/07/15
|
|
"All Mankind is Divided Into Three Classes..."
Some Aren't Buried Until They Are Seventy-five
|
02/23/15
|
|
Obama's Golden Opportunity
On Leaving a Legacy
|
02/13/15
|
|
Man in the Arena
"If He Fails, At Least Fails While Daring Greatly"
|
01/23/15
|
|
The Most Dangerous Woman in America
Mother Jones and Her Boys
|
01/16/15
|
|
Suffering Yields Success
Worrying Yields Warts
|
01/14/14
|
|
"Every Child is an Artist."
The Question is What Remains in Adulthood?
|
01/12/15
|
|
Ozone to Ferguson
A Journey That Never Seems To End
|
01/05/15
|