HOWLING WOLVES AND HUSH PUPPIES
I don’t remember when I started adding a wolf howl to the end of my prayers. And to the end of some songs at Sunday services. And whenever I want to punctuate something. It’s not every time, but it’s become…
CARTS BEFORE THE SOURCE
I read a piece by Seth Godin in which he asserted, “The biggest thing you bring to any project is FORWARD.” It’s kind of a weird way of phrasing it, but I totally get what he meant. “Forward” is first…
DON’T I KNOW US FROM SOMEWHERE?
Several years ago, I had a delightful exchange with a woman in a dance class at Maple Street. She looked so familiar to me — this striking redhead with a great smile who really knew how to shake her groove…
MERCY ME
The dynamic tension between independence and mutual responsibility has been part of the human psyche for… I don’t know, maybe forever. It was fundamental to our evolutionary development as a species — homo sapiens wouldn’t have made it very far…
BARREL OF MONKEYS
When I was about fifteen years old, I decided that religion was a soul-sucking dead-end. This decision was a big shift and it came out of nowhere, as far as I recall. I’d been a happy churchgoer my entire life,…
JUMP THE SHARK
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the idea of “jumping the shark.” It refers to the 5th season of the TV show Happy Days. In a 1977 episode, the ever-cool character of the Fonz, answering a challenge to his…
HEAVEN ALL THE WAY
A few weeks ago, I was grumbling about something. I don’t remember what it was. Something was coming up and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I declared, “I’m going to hate it, I’m going to be miserable.” I caught…
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
I read a sweet article recently, by Rhaina Cohen for The Atlantic: “What Adults Forget About Friendship.” It left me nostalgic for the broad vistas I remember from my childhood. When the future appeared wide open, and the present was…
ABOUT FACE
“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.”Desiderius Erasmus “I never forget a face. But in your case, I’d be…
SILLY LOVE SONGS
Today is the ten-year anniversary of my Mom’s sudden passing. I’m feeling blue, tired before I even begin. The day she died, Friday the 13th, I was preparing for my weekly Saturday night service, which that year was going to…