Category Archives: Series

I have talked with friends about the contests and games staged for children these days and the verdict seems to be that children are routinely shielded from loss and encouraged to believe that everyone wins. Loss is cloaked with badges, ribbons, and medals for showing “spirit” and simply participating. It was a much harsher climateContinue reading “Models Monday: Being Among Your Betters”

I finished reading Catching Fire, the second book in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games trilogy, and I enjoyed it so much that I have already started on the final book in the series, Mockingjay and dreading its conclusion. I discussed the plot of The Hunger Games in a previous post so I won’t rehearse itContinue reading “Models Monday: On Mindfulness (Against Oblivion)”

I watched Oprah’s Next Chapter yesterday. I saw most of two interviews that she conducted with Joel Osteen and Bishop T.D. Jakes. Oprah said to both of them, though for slightly different reasons, that she grew-up in the Church but that the ministries she experienced then were quite different from Osteen’s and Jakes’s ministries. TheContinue reading “Models Monday: Broke and Still Blessed (Thoughts on Joel Osteen and Bishop T.D. Jakes)”

When my Uncle Eric died, I returned to our emails as a source for preparing the eulogy that I would deliver. One of the most striking things about this correspondence, even as I look at it now, is how much of an authentic portrait of my family it seems to offer. He tells stories inContinue reading “Models Monday: The Certainty of Love”

I like technology. A lot. My gadget closet includes an iPhone 4, an iPad, an iMac, and a Kindle Fire. It also contains a host of cameras. I like both the simplicity and the interactivity of modern technology. I like being able to pick up any device and know instinctively how to use it, andContinue reading “Model’s Monday: iFocus”

I have previously written about how in being at my father’s funeral I felt like a patron in Harry Hope’s bar with so many people talking about dreams and dreaming. In my re-reading of Death of a Salesman I thought about Linda Loman through the lens of the women in my father’s life–many of whom wereContinue reading “Reading with the Times: The Good Wife (3/15)”

I watched Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Whitney Houston’s family last night with interest. I thought that Oprah would treat them with a great deal of care and would put their pain above the professional obligation to ask the hard questions. I thought that she would find a way to ask tough questions, but that sheContinue reading “Models Monday: Time Well Spent”

I agree with Charles Isherwood’s reading of Willy Loman as a tragic hero. He contends that Willy alone does not reflect Arthur Miller’s contention that a tragic hero devotes himself to evaluating himself justly. Willy by himself cannot embrace another model of what it means to live well. He cannot recover himself and elevate theContinue reading “Reading with the Times: The Tragic Hero Question (3/8)”