Archive

When I first heard the term “trigger warning,” I imagined Roy Rogers leaning down and whispering something to his horse but I’ve come to understand that the concept is something… Read More

I write in my sleep. It’s hardly restful. Since I mostly remember what I write, I’m never quite sure if I’m really asleep. Recently, I’ve been haunted by the nocturnal… Read More

So the blood of almost 2000 American soldiers shed in Afghanistan has come to this… a new bill passed in the Afghan parliament, although yet to be signed by Karzai,… Read More

In the early 50s, I remember sitting in my PJs under a spruce Christmas tree. I’m opening a pile of presents from my mother. These are the presents my mother never… Read More

For generations, the organizing principles of tribal and melting pot societies have been religion, commerce, and government. Each has occasioned both great human advancement and incalculable human suffering. They are,… Read More

In Denmark, I recently heard the term “curling parents,” the Danish idiom for “helicopter parents.”  For those unfamiliar with the sport of curling, one player runs in front of the… Read More

I love photographs. I have several thousand photographs of family and places from 1868 to the present. I grew up in a family of photographers. Most are black and white.… Read More

Among the common frames through which we view the quality of our lives are health, knowledge, ethics, wealth, beauty, and spirit. A life well lived uses all these frames to… Read More

Governor Shumlin appears to be crafting a legacy like most of his Republican and Democratic predecessors that is at once socially progressive and fiscally responsible. But his credibility falters though… Read More

Vermont and America have always been inspired and governed by a political spectrum spanning conservative and liberal values. Party names have changed — Whigs, Bull Moose, Tea Party – and… Read More

Sometimes I worry that we’re at risk of succumbing to our own arrogance as a species. A quick history … In primitive times, just after we lost our prehensile tails,… Read More

Orthodoxy has never served mankind well. Like an angry Gorgon, it periodically emerges from its cave and breaths fire into religion, academia or politics, and then retreats in order to… Read More