The truth of a grape hyacinth exceeds that of a man who *fabulates daily, foisting sociopathic reality upon all who need a cause, or have something to gain, or who are just lost in the kaleidoscopic zeitgeist of endless marketing. I arrived at this conclusion, peering through the lens of my camera on a…
It is raining outside. A gray day, but timely for the spring vegetation. Nature is more reliable than human nature. I say “more” because there are interruptions in natural processes, sometimes severe ones such as the little ice age (1303-1860) which brought cold and wet summers, failed crops and famine to Europe. Human nature…
The essay was entitled Against Cheerfulness, written by a female philosopher, Mariana Alessandri. Only a female would have the fortitude to mount an assault upon the Boy Scout code. Often it is from the outside that one is able to see more clearly. Especially an attack that illuminates the fault line between the admonition…
Quarantine imposes a discipline. One has time to attend to important, the most important tasks, which otherwise we have put off because we were so busy, our schedule so full. Now, there is no schedule. I have in mind the salutary duty of taking stock, of a backward look to see where one has…
After finishing Albert Camus’s work, The Plague, I returned to the text to mark several sections of singular philosophical statement. The segment chosen this morning is relevant to consideration of our post-covid-19 return to “normality”, the start-up of the economy. It is unclear what economy will be possible. Capitalist economies are marketplaces designed for…
Thursday, another day in a week of quarantine. The days run together. I am bereft of the normal routine of work that structures our sense of time. There is more mulch to be moved, to spread around the yard. The mind’s focus necessarily is restricted to the boundaries of one’s own house. There’s nowhere…
I have never paid attention to Earth Day. April 22, set aside to pay homage to the home which we share with all living beings as been on the periphery of my awareness. No longer. The global condition that we now find ourselves, searching for a treatment, a vaccine for the covid-19 virus —…
Today it is snowing. This will be the biggest snowfall of winter…. That’s right, it’s spring already. Yet another reminder that Heraclitus was right. Change is the one thing we an depend upon. You cannot step into the same river twice. Something worth thinking about. I shoveled mulch yesterday. Shoveling, spreading mulch is not…
A friend wrote about the creativity, comity, the shear effort to offer assistance in this time of necessary quarantine. Yes, there are innumerable acts of sacrifice, a dedication of time, perhaps of groceries to a person who was in need of the help. Such expressions of our shared humanity, the vulnerability and community orientation…
This morning I drove to Geneva. Before the onset of the coronavirus, I used to travel the 10 minute drive to the Starbucks at the corner of 3rd and State Street. As a matter of habit I looked forward to beginning my day with an hour of writing. I learned the names of several…
