Donald Trump’s presidency taught us the strength of our institutions depends upon our goodwill.  They work because we want them to.   If we doubted the integrity of the ballot box and our judicial system, for example, we’d condemn ourselves to second-guessing every outcome.  I

Being someone who meditates for enlightenment, I decided to bend my thoughts to the state of our democracy. My reason for doing so was this statement: the public has more confidence in the military than any other national institution. (“Crisis of Command,” by Risa Brooks et al, Fo

After Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45h President of the United States, officials in his government began to replace information they didn’t like with false information that supported their political viewpoint. They called these changes “alternative facts.” Many of us laughed

“We are a storytelling species, every bit as much as a tool-using one,” writes the author of The English Professor Who Foresaw Modern Neuroscience.   I agree. As a teacher, I would tell my students, “If you want to see how your mind works, write something.”  Composition exp

“We make lists because we don’t want to die.” So says, Umberto Eco, medievalist, philosopher, and author of Foucault’s Pendulum. With lists, we attempt to manage time, knowing time is a nonrenewable resource.  A list fixes a task to memory and gives us the psychological satis

Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted he was stunned to see people of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) applaud when they learned Tennessee had halted all vaccinations for minors, including those for Covid-19.  The state said it wanted to protect parents’ rights to make medic

Most societies link human childbirth to the spiritual. “It’s a miracle,” a new parent is likely to gasp upon seeing his or her offspring for the first time.  That sense of the divine is not lost in patriarchal societies. To downplay the woman’s role, religious myths credit th

When I entered the second grade, my life fell apart.  World War 11 was raging.  My mother divorced my father and became a single parent–an immigrant with a modest command of  English and no job skills.  My father, angry, left us to fend for ourselves and that meant my mother

A man in his 50s admitted on Facebook he was depressed about the changes he saw barreling down on society like a runaway train. He doubted the alterations were for the better.  As he is a liberal thinker, I supposed he was suffering from Trump fatigue and wondering, as I do, when our

A large book agency has asked to see the first 50 pages of my memoir, “Getting Lost to Find Home.”  I’m not turning cartwheels.  Most agents ask for sample pages as part of the query.  This one required a query before deciding to see more. Call it a baby step forward.  A req