a small paper for a small planet
If we are to truly measure morality, then we need to look at what we prize as a society. How do we spend our free time? What is our treasure? What motivates us? What do we value the most?
The answer isn’t very far away–it’s in our driveways, in the corners of our living rooms, in our hands, our ears and our pockets. It is money and everything money can buy. [Read More]
Some of my conservative friends that I’ve talked to recently think that America in particular and the world in general is in a moral decline. It is common for them to compare America with ancient Rome. “We’re heading the same way as Constantine,” a Republican colleague said to me a few weeks ago.
Closer and closer his little spaceship came
To the event horizon of the black hole.
This was his great adventure.
What he had studied all his life
Might today be proven true or false.
Or perhaps not proven at all.
When I was a child, two sounds soothed me to sleep each night: the washing machine in the basement and the bell buoy in the bay. The liquid repetitiveness of the washing machine churning laundry in its gullet contrasted with the intermittent knelling of the bell as it warned ships away from the shoreline.
One of the most important cultural centers in the ancient world was founded by a dolphin. According to a Homeric Hymn, the creature jumped aboard a ship sailing from Crete and commanded the mariners to build a sanctuary at Delphi. The animal was said to be a manifestation of the Greek god Apollo. Apollo Delphinios.
Does it even matter anymore that light sabers aren’t real? Or that Lance Armstrong used drugs to win races? Or that Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend never existed? Or that faith, as the filmed LIFE OF PI suggests, needn’t be based on truth to be valid?
It seems to me in light of the current culture and politics of America that perhaps it is time for me, and maybe others, to actually examine their own ethics and how we live our lives prior to condemning others for the way they lead theirs. Perhaps if we work harder to become our better selves then our communities and our country can evolve into better versions of themselves as well. [Read More]
Suddenly I feel like I’m standing on sacred ground. My sense of kinship with the place expands in the company of cedars, some large enough to barely get my arms around. I press my palms against the taut skin of their trunks. I revel in the scent of sprigs picked up from earth their kind have nourished for lifetimes.
For years, the Coaster Theatre was perhaps best known for its annual production of some version of Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol.” Since the 1970’s, members of the community—from sandwich makers to librarians to students—came together to dress up in top hats and spread some holiday cheer. Those community members who didn’t take part in the show were sure to come and watch. The theatre truly brought the community together. [Read More]
Autumn conjures up hallowed thoughts of education. Scholars conversing under sturdy campus oaks. Visits to libraries late at night, haunted by information.
Yet harvest’s end heralds an older turn from physical to mental labor, one that predates mortarboards and standardized tests. It’s a release of time to reflect on our ways, raid the smokehouse of knowledge, slice into some farm-cured ideas. [Read More]
