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Category Archives: Essays
Do you have a favorite epitaph?
In thinking about a legacy, many notable people left interesting epitaphs. The tone varies widely with strains of lament, humor, religiosity, hope and peace. Do you have a favorite? What would you write for yourself or a loved one? Here … Continue reading
Posted in end of life, Essays
3 Comments
Conned once again
Feb Phenom – sent along by a friend’s mother! The groundhog is a bucktoothed little rodent Who sleeps away the winter in the ground. But once a year there comes his special moment, When February second comes around. It’s then … Continue reading
How (not) to talk to someone with advanced cancer
Kate Bowler is an assistant professor at Duke Divinity School, the author of “Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved.” She has been “terminal” (what does that mean any more?) with stage IV cancer but her life … Continue reading
Posted in end of life, Essays, Health
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One word essays
From Dorothy Wendler: The picture below is from a website that has “one word essays.” It’s subtitled “Gee mail, all the stuff that grandparents forward.” Click here to see more “one word essays.”
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Portland’s weirdness facing some unwelcome changes
For years, Portland has been the symbol for laid-back, inexpensive quirkiness, but the city may be losing that identity. 60 minutes had an revealing report yesterday showing that Portland’s problems are beginning to echo Seattle’s problems. Despite being a progressive … Continue reading
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Be Prepared
A friend was vacationing in Kauai and reports some local news: “One of the best stories was from a humorous employee of Living Foods – the Whole Foods-like market and coffee bar. The dairy products and ice cream had just … Continue reading
Oregonians freak out about pumping their own gas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65N07g7w6DQ Actually, I think Oregon may have had it right. Can you remember pulling into a nice Texaco station, being welcomed at the pump and filling up for 26 cents a gallon, having the oil checked and windows washed? Those … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Essays, Humor, Law
2 Comments
Working in her pajamas
PBS had an interesting presentation about a millennial who is trying to describe what work is when one is so into social media. I’m not sure of any lesson learned, but I found it interesting that she felt towards the … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Science and Technology
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Is technology good – or perhaps really evil?
Is technology bringing us together or driving up apart. David Brooks addresses this in a recent NYT OpEd in which he outlines the evils (or potential evils) of screen technologies. There may be purposeful addiction, disruption of social interaction and … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Science and Technology
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“That time of year thou mayst in me behold”
Shakespeare wasn’t referring to beauty of this tree in his 73rd sonnet in which he compares aging to an old tree – “bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.” Photo two days ago at the Seattle Tennis Club. … Continue reading
Posted in Aging Sites, Essays, Nature
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Can the Stoics help us rise above anger?
Massimo Pigliucci is professor of philosophy at City College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His latest book is How to Be a Stoic: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living (2017). He lives in New York. In … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Philosophy
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Our Parents Are Our Future
Meg Harkins recommends this delightful essay in the New Yorker by Cora Frazier reminding us that there are helicopter children hovering nearby at times. Sometimes they need to just let go! “People often ask me: How can we make sure our … Continue reading
Posted in Aging Sites, Essays, Humor
1 Comment
Our nature
“The nature of every individual is determined by his or her deepest love.” Emanuel Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets
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Thoughts on friendship
Aristotle noted that “man is a social animal.” This implies that we need each other, need social interaction and, yes, friendships. My son-in-law’s parents, in their 80’s, were evacuated from their home in Boca Raton, Florida several days ago and … Continue reading
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A few thoughts from Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” “We must live together as brothers or perish … Continue reading
Garrison Keillor’s alive and well
Basil Filonowich put me onto to this “Best Paper Money Can’t Buy.” It’s the Reader from Duluth, Minnesota. A major contributor is a voice no longer heard on the Prairie Home Companion. Instead Garrison Keillor contributes a regular column called The … Continue reading
Why no travelogues?
In six years at Skyline, no one has ever asked me over to see their vacation pictures. It is only in the past year that I’ve seen a returned traveler pull out their iPhone and show off a few pictures … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Photography, Travel
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Thoughts about freedom of the press from prior leaders as we approach our country’s birthday
From the NYT: So this, our 241st birthday, seems just the time to invite some of our forebears to remind us — including those at the top of the government — why a free press is so important. “Whoever would … Continue reading
Anti-Shariah rallies are a shrewd attack on Islam
The most conservative Islamic States like Saudi Arabia operate under a strict interpretation of Shariah law. But many Muslim majority countries have adopted a more moderate European model. The USA is certainly in no danger of having Shariah law adopted … Continue reading
Posted in Essays
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Father’s Day – it started in Spokane!
Father’s day was first popularized in Spokane, Washington, by the efforts of Mrs Sonora Smart Dodd. From the Farmer’s Almanac: “Her story began as she sat listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Mrs. Dodd thought that it might … Continue reading
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Baby boomers don’t like being called elderly!
The Seattle times today has an Op-ed piece titled Don’t call baby boomers ‘elderly’ — try ‘late middle age.’ I guess labels do mean something, but we are all on a slope with an often blind trajectory. It’s probably a good thing … Continue reading
Posted in Aging Sites, Essays
1 Comment
Trump Fires Kim Jong-un
Fake news of the day Donald Trump in a swift and unexpected move tweeted that he has fired the North Korean Leader, Kim Jong-Un. The President stated that enough is enough, “He’s a bad dude. It’s very very important that we … Continue reading
“Grief, when it comes, is nothing like we expect it to be.”
Maria Popov has a thoughtful literary web site called Brainpickings. She recently published an essay by Joan Didion on the subject of grief. She notes, “Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. … Continue reading
A few thoughts
Do we have to know who’s gay and who’s straight? Can’t we just love everybody and judge them by the car they drive? — Ellen DeGeneres “At first sign of crisis, the ignorant don’t panic because they don’t know what’s … Continue reading
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