“The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true.” -Carl Sagan A while ago, my…

Gabriel Fauré was a famous French composer (1845–1924). He composed his first song at the age of sixteen and went on to influence many composers in the 20th century. His musical piece Sicilienne, Op. 78, is brief, but haunting. Its effect is most keenly felt at times when all else…

As we surpass our father’s skill, Our sons will shame our own; A thousand things are hidden still And not a hundred known -Alfred Lord Tennyson Learning requires humility on many levels. To start learning something in earnest, we first have to accept that we do not know it. We…

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” -John Steinbeck Recently, my daughter was instructed to read a novel as part of her homework for the summer holidays. The choice of the novel was left up to her. …

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” Mahatma Gandhi Not long ago, I was going through the readers’ comments on a famous blog. I witnessed an unusual situation. It is something that I rarely see in online, or even in offline, conversations. Reader One put…

“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.” -Robert A. Heinlein In 2008, artist Chris Jordan and photographer Manuel Maqueda heard of an unfortunate effect of plastic pollution in the oceans. Albatrosses were dying in large numbers in Midway Island located in the North Pacific Ocean. Over the next…

I recently watched a brief video interview of Henry Rollins. He is a multi-talented artist. He is a musician, an actor, a spoken word artist, an author, a publisher, and other things besides. In the interview, he talks about the low-paying jobs that he worked in his youth. They involved…

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” -L.M. Montgomery In this blog post, I want to write about two inspiring instances of people returning to something they loved doing in their youth. Nick Axten had to leave his doctorate in Philosophy that he was…

Author Clint Smith was recently giving an interview on the Family Action Network. He recounted a story he had told on Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’. In third grade, Smith wrote his first poem. His third-grade teacher, Mrs. Mueller, read his poem. She put her hand on his shoulder and…