Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 186 other subscribersQuote of the Day
more QuotesCategories
- Addiction (14)
- Advance Directives (11)
- Adventures (5)
- Advocacy (226)
- Aging Sites (150)
- Animals (149)
- Architecture (15)
- Art (139)
- artificial intelligence (3)
- Books (74)
- Business (112)
- Caregiving (17)
- CCRC Info (43)
- Civic Engagement Group (118)
- Climate (49)
- Communication (26)
- Community Engagement Group (6)
- Cooking (14)
- Crime (48)
- Dance (46)
- Dementia (89)
- Disabilities (19)
- drugs (3)
- Economics (31)
- Education (151)
- end of life (115)
- energy (2)
- Entertainment (96)
- environment (293)
- Essays (350)
- Ethics (8)
- Finance (61)
- Fitness (32)
- Food (62)
- Gardening (21)
- Gay rights/essays (1)
- Gifts (1)
- Government (306)
- Grief (29)
- Guns (34)
- happiness (119)
- Health (767)
- History (303)
- Holidays (70)
- Homeless (23)
- Hospice (6)
- Housing (5)
- Humor (991)
- Immigration (3)
- In the Neighborhood (450)
- Insurance (1)
- Justice (36)
- Kindness (14)
- language (3)
- Law (105)
- literature (20)
- Love (1)
- Media (41)
- Memory Loss (3)
- Mental Health (10)
- Military (25)
- Morality (7)
- Movies (13)
- Music (191)
- Nature (173)
- nutrition (1)
- Obituaries (13)
- On Stage (7)
- Opera (22)
- Organ donation (1)
- Parks (33)
- Pets (14)
- Philanthropy (18)
- Philosophy (19)
- Photography (95)
- Plants (2)
- Poetry (37)
- Politics (553)
- Poverty (14)
- prayer (9)
- Race (91)
- Recipes (1)
- Recycling (2)
- refugees (1)
- Religion (74)
- Remembrances (59)
- Retirement (15)
- Safety (58)
- Satire (46)
- Scams (32)
- Science and Technology (204)
- Shopping (9)
- Singing (1)
- Skyline Info (46)
- sleep (9)
- Social justice (171)
- Space (3)
- Spiritual (17)
- Sport (13)
- Sports (49)
- Taxes (5)
- technology (12)
- terrorism (1)
- theater (12)
- Traffic (14)
- Transportation (73)
- Travel (32)
- Uncategorized (1,351)
- Volunteering (16)
- Voting (3)
- WACCRA (7)
- War (79)
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 186 other subscribers
Category Archives: Essays
The moral philosophy of David Brooks
David Brooks is quite honest in his latest book. He became a workaholic and his marriage fell apart six years ago. His Quest for a Moral Life is a message to us all about personal responsibility for our actions, and … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Essays, Philosophy
1 Comment
The funeral as we know it is becoming a relic — just in time for a death boom
By Karen Heller April 15 (in the Washington Post – thanks to Frank C for sending this in) Dayna West knows how to throw a fabulous memorial shindig. She hired Los Angeles celebration-of-life planner Alison Bossert — yes, those now exist — … Continue reading
Posted in end of life, environment, Essays, Remembrances
Comments Off on The funeral as we know it is becoming a relic — just in time for a death boom
Our Disgrace at the Border by David Brooks
Suppose one night there is a knock on your door. You open it to find 100 bedraggled families shivering in your yard — exhausted, filthy, terrified. The first cry of your heart would be to take them in, but you’d … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Law, Politics, Race, Social justice
Comments Off on Our Disgrace at the Border by David Brooks
Who was Sparky?
Thanks to Rosemary W for sending the video along From Wikipedia: “Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota,[3] Schulz grew up in Saint Paul. He was the only child of Carl Schulz, who was born in Germany, and Dena Halverson, who had Norwegian heritage.[4] His uncle called him “Sparky” after the … Continue reading
To boost your self-esteem, write about chapters of your life
From Aeon: “In truth, so much of what happens to us in life is random – we are pawns at the mercy of Lady Luck. To take ownership of our experiences and exert a feeling of control over our future, … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Remembrances
Comments Off on To boost your self-esteem, write about chapters of your life
Hope springs eternal
Below is from Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man. Though Pope isn’t talking about the folly of Mariner’s Mania, he does remind us to “drop into thyself and be a fool.” Know then thyself, presume not God to scanThe proper … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Philosophy, Sports
Comments Off on Hope springs eternal
The Incredible Shrinking Trump Boom
By Paul Krugman from the NYT: “So far, Donald Trump has passed only one significant piece of legislation: the 2017 tax cut. It was, to be fair, a pretty big deal: corporations, the principal beneficiaries, have already saved more than … Continue reading
Dissecting the Dreams of Brexit Britain
Ed Note: Could anyone please enlighten us as to what’s really going on in the existential crises called Brexit. Are they really dreaming of a lost empire? Is it white nationalism? Is it mainly reflecting the long simmering differences between … Continue reading
A black man’s dialogue with the KKK
Thanks to Gordon G. An amazing dialogue brings about understanding and change.
Posted in Essays, Race, Social justice
Comments Off on A black man’s dialogue with the KKK
Does tipping humanize the restaurant experience?
From Aeon: “Historians mostly agree that tipping was originally an aristocratic custom. In early 17th century England, it became expected that visitors to a private home would, on departure, leave a small amount of money, called a vail, to the … Continue reading
The policy implications of love your neighbor.
By David Brooks in the NYT “Ideas drive history. But not just any ideas, magnetic ideas. Ideas so charismatic that people devote their lives to them. In his 1999 book, “The Real American Dream,” Andrew Delbanco described the different ideas that, at … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Politics, Social justice
Comments Off on The policy implications of love your neighbor.
Honesty – from “Consolations” by David Whyte
Ed note: Below is a second essay about a word, this time honesty, by the writer and poet David Whyte is his book “Consolations.” Please let me know if you would like more essays about common words. Or you can click on the above link to Amazon books. “Honesty is reached through the doorway of grief and loss. Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Uncategorized
Comments Off on Honesty – from “Consolations” by David Whyte
“Consolations – The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words” by David Whyte
Words carry power to each one of us in a different way. The internationally acclaimed poet and Author David Whyte makes his home in the Pacific Northwest, where rain and changeable skies remind him of the other, more distant homes … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, literature
Comments Off on “Consolations – The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words” by David Whyte
What would Lincoln do?
By David BlankenhornSpecial to The Los Angeles Times Abraham Lincoln, who was born 210 years ago this month, was president during an era even more rancorous and polarized than our own. Yet he managed to navigate it — not in a … Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, Essays, History, Philosophy, Politics
Comments Off on What would Lincoln do?
Authors write about love
“I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved.”—By George Eliot “The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love.” —By … Continue reading
Posted in Essays
Comments Off on Authors write about love
Route 66 – Get your kicks!
From Savingplaces.org: While it’s not the oldest automobile highway in the United States, Route 66—a National Treasure of the National Trust—is likely the most enduring highway in America’s public consciousness. “The Mother Road,” as it’s often called, represents a significant … Continue reading
Posted in Education, environment, Essays, History, Photography, Remembrances, Travel
Comments Off on Route 66 – Get your kicks!
Expectations can change us!
Posted in environment, Essays
Comments Off on Expectations can change us!
Downtown driving tax could fix traffic without pricing out the poor
From Crosscut: Mayor Durkan wants to toll drivers to lower emissions and break Seattle’s gridlock, and new research shows it could benefit low-income communities, too.by An evening view of the Pacific Tower on Beacon Hill, Seattle, with traffic on Interstate … Continue reading
Posted in environment, Essays, In the Neighborhood, Social justice, Traffic
Comments Off on Downtown driving tax could fix traffic without pricing out the poor
Why Did Soviets Invade Afghanistan? Documents Offer History Lesson for Trump
Ed Note: The article below explains how little President Trump understands about Afghanistan. Or perhaps he does understand Russia’s aspirations there and is effectively turning the “great game” back their favor. The book, The Great Game, documents the long history … Continue reading
Should Scientists Toy With the Secret to Life?
Ed Note: Science continues to push well ahead of the ethical implications involved, especially now with the ability to modify our basic genetic makeup. With Crispr the key is now present to consider literally cutting out bad genes known to … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Health, Science and Technology
Comments Off on Should Scientists Toy With the Secret to Life?
Washington could become the first state to legalize human composting
Washington residents “are very excited about the prospect of becoming a tree or having a different alternative,” state Sen. Jamie Pedersen said. A process known as “recomposition” reduces human remains to compost. CAHNRS Communications / Washington State UniversityDec. 29, 2018, 10:06 … Continue reading
Posted in Advance Directives, end of life, Essays, Law
Comments Off on Washington could become the first state to legalize human composting
Nature vs Nurture – our beliefs may be more important than our genes in this study
Ed note: The age old argument about nature vs. nurture will likely continue on for ages. In the field of epigenetics it’s been discovered that we can actually turn our genes off/on with some life experiences. At times our beliefs … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Essays, Fitness, Health, Science and Technology
Comments Off on Nature vs Nurture – our beliefs may be more important than our genes in this study
For Seattle, Viadoom gridlock is history repeated
From Crosscut: On Jan. 11, Seattle enters a period the city has dubbed the “Period of Maximum Constraint.” It sounds a bit like bondage, but without the fun bits. It kicks off with the closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, resulting … Continue reading
Posted in environment, Essays, History, In the Neighborhood, Transportation
Comments Off on For Seattle, Viadoom gridlock is history repeated