Category Archives: Ruminations

The forecast for tomorrow, finally, corresponds to my definition of ideal weather: a high of seventy-five and a low in the upper forties, with clear skies. Saturday, the day I will read a short piece on stage at our local … Continue reading →

Not long ago, I wrote what was to be a short vignette introducing the town of Struggles, Arkansas. There is no such place, except in my head. But I keep returning to Struggles and to my dissatisfaction with my description … Continue reading →

How many things do you take for granted every day? No, not just a number; a list. Might the list include the coffee you drink, your ability to be ambulatory, the roof over your head? How about food on the … Continue reading →

Early this morning, while I was trying to decide whether to get out of bed or stay there, imprisoned by the warmth, I had weird conversation with myself. I questioned whether anthropologists and their allies make too many assumptions while explaining … Continue reading →

The concept, or rather the practical application of the concept, of prison is bizarre. I’ve never thought of it quite the same way before, but this morning it hit me: society decides the behavior of an individual is sufficiently deviant … Continue reading →

M.C. Escher introduced me to optical illusion in art. I must have been in my mid to late teens when I first encountered Escher’s work, an odd assortment of impossibilities made possible with pen and ink and woodcuts and such. … Continue reading →

There’s a “what if” just waiting to be asked when something unplanned, unexpected, or unwanted happens. That “what if” can jar one into greater appreciation of what is, a more acute gratitude for the life benefits one enjoys without giving them … Continue reading →

Several years ago, during a business trip to San Diego, I took time out to seek out an Indian restaurant in La Jolla. An epicurean friend who lived on the east coast had encouraged me to give the place a … Continue reading →

I might be alone in this, but I’d very much like the opportunity to view a video of my internal organs as they function. Watching the esophagus and stomach do their thing may sound revolting to some, but it strikes … Continue reading →

“Spinning a yarn” is an idiomatic expression meaning “to make up a story” or “to tell a lie.” I gather the genesis of the expression was from a time when groups of women gathered to craft yarn on spinning wheels. While they … Continue reading →

Breathe and be happy. Smile. Look at other people as friends, even people you don’t know. A genuine smile feels good, whether giving or receiving it. I think people can read decency and generosity in others’ faces. They have a … Continue reading →

The degree of success I enjoyed, relative to other people my age, once mattered to me. I used an external measure, a standard against which I might compare favorably or unfavorably; the variance, positive or negative, was my yardstick. In hindsight, … Continue reading →

I’ve filled the hummingbird feeders four times in the last two days. Each time, I dissolve a cup of sugar in a quart of water and fill the feeders. In no time, those thirsty birds suck up the nectar, the frenzy … Continue reading →

It’s so damn easy for me to get distracted and, in so doing, to absent-mindedly behave in a way that causes other people to feel I am ignoring them or their feelings. Or, perhaps, the perception is simply that I … Continue reading →

Fight if you feel you must, but understand that battles have consequences, some of which are unintended. Before you enter the fray, weigh the potential for success and failure and consider what those outcomes really mean.

Lethargy and comfort are to blame, I think. They’re the reasons more of us don’t immerse ourselves in other cultures, if only for a little while, to experience the world from a different angle, a perspective impossible to embrace without … Continue reading →

I sometimes wonder, when I wake up, what other people are wondering when they wake up. And then I wonder whether they wonder what others are wondering. If they do, we should get together for some sort of reunion.

The likelihood that I will be called out as a fashion plate is less than slim. I’m comfortable with that, just as I’m comfortable in my unfashionable clothes. I have friends who would shudder if they were forced to wear … Continue reading →

In recent years, I have come to realize that my lifelong disdain for religion has never been particularly helpful to anyone, including myself. While I do not believe in a deity of any sort, nor do I believe in supernatural … Continue reading →

I am living proof that a person can learn simply by remembering, and searching for insights in those memories. Concepts, which in our arrogance we thought we knew to be truths, become harsh lessons in humility and appreciation in retrospect. Old facts become … Continue reading →

Several months ago, I wrote on my blog about a Japanese word (komorebi) that means sunlight filtering through tree leaves. I coined a wholly unsuitable neologism that would get at the theme, but would not be restricted to sunlight filtering through … Continue reading →

Some days, I can amuse myself for hours simply by imagining conversations with high-profile political figures who I’ve kidnapped and locked in my basement.    

Perseverance is key to attainment, whatever the hard-sought aim. Whether carving a face in the side of a granite mountain, writing an emotionally draining novel, or crafting a new outlook on life, success is the reward for persistence. But that’s … Continue reading →

One recent day, at the local college, I opened the door to the air-conditioned pottery studio after raku-firing several pieces outside in a 1900-degree kiln. Naturally, I was dripping in sweat; my hair wet and my t-shirt drenched. One of the women in … Continue reading →

Question your own motives. Don’t accept easy answers. Argue against your own positions and win. Believe in things you cannot accept, ideas anathema to everything rational in your brain. If you can do these things, you can tell stories that … Continue reading →