I never expected to visit Madison, Indiana. More to the point I never heard of the place until we passed through yesterday on our way to the Ohio River. The road trip to Kentucky was for the purpose of having a talk with Wendell Berry. Berry is a prolific author, essayist, poet– one who…
This morning I heard the news that Amazon is purchasing Whole Foods. Jeff Bezos acquires another weapon in his quest to slay the Wal-Mart behemoth. At least that is what the analysts are saying. The prime principle of 21st century greed-is-good Capitalism is “There Can Be Only One.” This mantra comes from the Highlander…
Two stories are better than just one, right? We all love stories. Stories require imagination, the mind supplies the “sense” of living within the Reality of the story. Story no. 1 is a story of us, we who live in the early years of the 21st century. The words are taken from Paul Virilio’s…
I do not enjoy thinking about, or writing about politics. I recognize that politics is a dimension of life. Yet we live in terrible times, by comparison to the time of my childhood and early adult years. In that time, with the exception of the Vietnam War years, politics was not a daily intrusion,…
I finished putting in the garden. What remains is watering, hoeing weeds as necessary, and waiting for harvest. Like raising a child once the basics are taken care of by labor, sometimes hard labor, it is best to observe with care the development of those for which one is responsible. Too much intervention, ill…
“Things continue as they were since the beginning of the world,” is a saying from my early 20s heard while sitting in a college class room. The language has to do with the natural tendency to extend the present pattern of experience backwards and forwards. The denial of change is our default, our longing…
I have worried about something for a few months. My impression of the president has been of someone who is lying. Mind you I am not one who subscribes to a dogmatic definition of truth. There is no one to one correlation between reality and words. Reality itself varies somewhat person to person. It…
Waking before 5AM in the gathering morning light, my mission took me to Park Ridge. One benefit of a early start is once the client obligations are taken care of–enough of the day remains for reflection, and perhaps for a non routine project. During my return drive on 294 I listened to a few…
I took a walk in town around midday. Mother nature was in her fecund glory. I saw the Poppy blossoms from a distance. Red is an arresting color. These three or four Poppy blossoms were blazing with radiance on the side of a dreary street. Most of the rental spaces for small businesses are…
I grew up in North Carolina. As time passes I look back at my formative years as a kid in the 50s. My parents had life long careers working in the tobacco factories. Evangelical fundamentalist religion was the structuring element of our personal lives. In the pre civil rights days most of my friends…
