A reader commented about my recent blog on meditation (Blog 10/14/14) to remind me that walking, as opposed to sitting, is a form of meditation, too, and once reminded,  I was quick to acknowledge he was correct.  Ancient mazes were designed to induce a meditative state and walking

Arguments for and against electing court judges by popular vote continue from time to time. In my community, judgeships tend to be uncompetitive with one person running for each vacant slot.  It hardly seems worth the price of ink to put their names on the ballot and how these candid

Near the end of my last term in public office, my secretary left for California and I had to replace her.  Rather than do a long search for a job that would last less than a year, I hired an independent contractor. After that, I turned my attention to the task of winding down the off

Every community, not matter how small, has a coffee shop or restaurant where people gather to see and be seen.  In a city there are many places.  Portland being a mid size city has more than its share, most of which I tend of avoid.  If I don’t want the NSA spying on me, I don’

The night for the first play auditions finally arrived.  For me, it had already been a long day.  I dreaded going out again.  Worse, the taxi I’d ordered failed to appear.  I don’t like to drive at night but, having no alternative, I ploughed through a driving rain to reach th

Sometimes we think we know the meaning of a word only to discover we don’t.  Take the word monopoly.  It used to mean a business large enough to eliminate its competitors.  When that happens, we expect goods and services to go up.  But, as Franklin Foer writes in a recent essay,

A blog reader sent me a news clipping from the October 14, 2014 edition of the Wall Street Journal. The article reviews two books where the authors take differing positions on the importance of grammar and style.  (“Book Review: ‘Gwynne’s Grammar’ N.M. Gwynne & ‘The Sen

Happy Thanksgiving everyone in the USA and abroad.  

In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne imagined deep water submarines.  In I, Robot, Isaac Asimov dreamed of machines with personalities.  J. K. Rowling envisioned an invisibility cloak in Harry Potter.  Why take note of this?  Because, so often, fiction imagines po

In the early 1970s, I worked hard to pass an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that would grant women equal protection under the law.  The movement didn’t succeed and today, many of my sex feel such a law is unnecessary.  Happily a few have begun to rethink the question and to reevalua