In this era of computer search engines, it doesn’t take much effort to learn what words and phrases do the heavy lifting in our language. The frequency with which certain words get used reveals a great deal about the culture we inhabit. Three psychol…
Albert introduced himself as a homeless man living on the streets of Detroit after a fire in his apartment. He was eager to tell his story of what life was like living on the streets. We were patient listeners until he came to his pitch about donatin…
Who doesn’t like the Fourth of July? Well, dogs clearly don’t. Our soft-coated wheaten terrier, prior to her death last year, used to bark and wail with every firecracker. Her reaction to the vacuum cleaner was warm and cordial, by comparison. No won…
A few months ago, I found myself sitting in an O’Hare airport terminal, waiting several hours for a delayed flight. I’d already exhausted most of my entertainment options—taking several laps up & down the long corridor of numbered gates, finishin…
I understand what it means to dislike someone, or to treat a person with disfavor. I “get” the idea that it is possible to view another human being as distasteful. But I cannot wrap my hands around a hatred that completely devalues the other. How doe…
I have never had anyone call me from a national polling organization and ask my opinion about something important. Makes me feel kind of left out. If I’m an average person, and those survey outfits want a cross sampling of average people, how come th…
These are the weeks when wild-eyed graduates around the country sit in stuffy gymnasiums, or under the great big sun, waiting for the announcement to switch the tassel on their skullcap from one side to the other. Some are surprised. Some are honored…
Hope, it seems, can be very hard to find. On Monday, I found myself at the gym, trying to do anything that would distract me from the painstakingly slow clock ticking down on the treadmill. So I looked up at the handful of TV screens lining the front…
I don’t know Raul Castro personally. My travel itinerary in the coming months doesn’t appear to be bringing me close to his company either. If given the chance, however, I’d love to tool around Havana in the backseat of one of those ’57 Chevy taxis,…
The next time you open up a book – be it a science fiction thriller or the latest Abraham Lincoln biography – you will be tempted to flip directly to the first page. Forget the table of contents or that strange page with all the tiny print that tells…
Spring has sprung here in the Quad Cities. Buds and flowers burst from trees that were bare just days ago. The once brown grass is lush and green. Tulips and daffodils and lilacs bring the kind of color that help us forget our gray February. It’s the…
Last week, on the Pearl Street walking mall in Boulder, Colorado, I sat on a bench enjoying my turkey and provolone Panini. It was a warm day, perfect for people watching. I began to study the movements of that city’s many homeless people. It is pret…