Nietzsche is interested in the ideal of the ancient Greeks, “all things in moderation.” The Greeks were as human as any 21st century homo sapien. Ideals serve as coordinates that we attempt to follow, albeit the inadequacy of our character, or skill, or resources. In contradistinction to the Greeks we Americans make no attempt…
References to the macabre are hyperbole it seems to me, in relation to our Halloween. American kids look forward to scoring a bagful of free candy treats while thinly disguised in the costume of choice. Halloween is by no means as comparably serious as the Dia de Muertos in Mexico that features offerings to…
On Sunday, two days ago I took the opportunity to visit the track for a final time for this year. It is mid fall. Soon the temps will fall, warm days will become a memory. Drag racing is a fair weather activity, ideal for summertime. Direct sunlight, heat, make asphalt lanes treated with traction…
Fall approaches, as does the general election. Given the division within the country, the stoking of alarm, no doubt many feel that we are on a slippery slope. No one can know what the future will be. Our insecurity prompts us to seek what is base, dishonorable, – to be defensive minded. I think…
Nothing is wasted! Even a heritage that one has taken measure of, reflected upon, then with effort to transition, to construct a more humane self, – that old wreckage in the rear-view-mirror is a resource for insight. Nietzsche states that holiness is nothing but a quest for purity. Saintliness is to insist upon unifying…
This is one of the most un-nerving texts I’ve ever read. A single idea that I have held sacred for a long time as an adult is the thought that I and others, say everyone in this room could, might thrive in a loving relationship. A tagline from the great song by the Eagles…
Human individuals are often surprising. Each of us is the consequence of genetic inheritance, and of conditioning. What I mean to say by conditioning – that complex of geography, of the point in time of a civilization’s/people’s stage of development, of the style and degree of nurture received from one’s parents, of the texture…
Car show yesterday. An adventure in memory. Big shows seem to trigger introspection. I think about the individuals in the prime of life, that solved mechanical conundrums, understanding more deeply the principles of physics, to design, to construct a more functional, and a more beautiful vehicle. I do not believe that beauty can be…
A backyard can be sublime. I confess to having no background in landscape design. Anyone potentially may pay attention, admire the form and colors of a well cared for lawn, accent shrubs, etc.. The preponderance of the work is what I call “hand-work” -weeding, pruning with a hand cutter, picking up debris, arranging fallen stems…
The Farmer’s Market does not disappoint. A weekly event, which replicates the open air commerce of many generations, universal, on every continent, – that is the Farmer’s Market. The buying and selling is integrated with the producer, with the production of many types of goods, not limited to the produce which comes from sun,…
