Ever since I read about a woman named Betty Tudor more than 20 years ago, I have been unable to forget her tale. Her 19-year performance deserves an Oscar in the Academy Awards of Failure. A resident of Exeter, England, Ms. Tudor struggled to master…
There was a short lived game show that was on television from 2008-2009 called “Hole in the Wall.” Inspired by a Japanese television show, competitors were challenged to fit through a “hole in the wall.” A human form in various kinds of poses would b…
One of God’s favorite tricks seems to be the hiding of certain Kingdom of Heaven treasures in unsuspecting places. Insert extraordinary objects into ordinary surroundings and you are bound to create surprise. It’s a play right out of the playbook of…
At some point between the age of 4 and 14, we seem to lose a fair amount of our curiosity. If you want proof—just spend a few minutes in conversation with a preschooler. Some estimate that the average child asks somewhere between 100 to as many as 35…
In spite of being relatively well read, I remain clueless about satirical magazines in other languages. I had never heard of Charlie Hebdo before last month. Most of the world didn’t know this small French magazine until an act of horrific evil unfol…
Green-and-yellow fan you are or not, the Green Bay Packers lost a tough one last weekend. By any reckoning, they had the game in the bag. Complete domination in the first 30-minutes pushed the salty air from Puget Sound right out of the stadium. Fans…
Echoing all over the world this week are the words “je suis Charlie,” which in English is “I am Charlie.” These three words have been found on placards at marches, on Twitter feeds and on buttons worn on lapels of torn wool coats and expensive velvet…
Last week I sat on an Amtrak train heading southwest towards a New Year’s visit with my family. Not long after I took my seat by the window, the winter sun began to set. And by late afternoon my view turned from various shades of brown, frozen fields…
Belonging to a church is an increasingly unfashionable idea. Just look at the larger culture. Check out the statistics on churchgoing habits. Observe what much of America does on a Sunday morning. With the possible exception of government, few instit…
We speak of prisoners “serving time.” I have never been incarcerated, so my words are careful here. But if I were imprisoned, I am guessing that service to the clock would be as awful as the toughness to the lock securing my cell. Time never seems to…