Neil Armstrong, on his return from the moon said “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” What if the same …
Note: The following will be published in the November-December issue of Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. I am thankful to Suzanne & Steve Heronemus for their friendship, kindness and wisdom. Twenty years later, the paradox grows even more relevant. We long for stable, creative lives. What if that is impossible? Many years ago, I worked with …
Note: This has been submitted for the July/August issue of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. Humanity is, I believe, on the cusp of a new era. Depending on the choices we make, the future will be informed by wisdom beyond our dreams, or imbued with ignorance and wanting. Am I alone in feeling that many of …
Note: The following will be published in the May/June issue of Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” Neil Postman I love Neil Postman’s insight, even though it speaks so forcefully of my own mortality. There will be, in the briefest of moments, a …
Note: This article will appear in the March/April issue of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. You don’t have to agree with my premise, however, if I propose a thought experiment, would you play along for just a moment? Starting right now, suppose you knew for a fact that a significant portion—perhaps 30 or 40 percent—of everything …
Most writing is the scratching of an insatiable itch for immortality. Alas, the more written, the greater the itch. Dee Hock Since reading Dee’s most recent work, Autobiography of a Restless Mind, I have been pondering the human desire for immortality, and wondering if, perhaps, we understand immortality inaccurately. 2.2 million books were published last …
Note: The Following was published in January 2011 in Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. I recently realized it never made it to my blog. As I approach 60, the moment of turning the calendar from one year to the next gives me pause. I wonder if I will have left a legacy. Will I have helped …
Note: The following essay first appeared on Tikkun Daily at www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily. I appreciate their work and am thankful for their generous support of mine. Years ago, my brother-in-law, a retired geophysicist, invited us to join him on a trek across the lava on the island of Hawai’i so we could see red-hot flows making their …
Note: The following will appear in the March/April edition of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. It serves as my transition from Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce to…well, that remains uncertain. Years ago, Ram Das wrote a book entitled Still Here. In spite of having left the Chamber of Commerce, I am still …
Note: I wrote the following piece for the Batavia Chamber of Commerce newsletter, but thought it might be of interest to the readers of my blog I’ve been accused of focusing too much on images of death, but bear with me, you just might find the questions I am about to ask confusing and irritating …