Posts by D C

“It’s all connected.” That’s a sentence we hear frequently, but what is the “it” that the sentence refers to? The connection a friend of mine made recently is one linking undocumented workers at our borders, failed countries to our south, and climate change. That might sound like a stretch, but my friend made a good…

I consider myself fortunate to have lived part of my youth in Springfield, Illinois. Out of my grade-school window, I could see the old courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law before going into politics. When family and friends came to visit, we often took them to see Lincoln’s home or his grave. One of my…

Being in my mid-seventies, I am facing what everyone my age faces—the increasing number of my close friends dying. The past few years have been particularly marked by grief. Some of my friends died after long illnesses; others died suddenly. It is common to describe all these deaths as “losses,” and, of course, there is…

Perhaps we all have thought at one time or another, “If I have to make another decision, my head is going to explode.” It is true that we can become overwhelmed and worn down when we are faced with one decision after another. Taking a nap can be a good response when the “decider” part…

Once students wrestle with these thinkers, they realize that the secret of living a moral life will never be found on a poster or bumper sticker. Investigating the moral life takes time and effort, and then committing to live morally is the work of a lifetime. Focusing on the moral life—what is it and one…

What images come to mind with the word “war?” For much of human history, artists working for pharaohs, emperors, kings, queens, sultans, and tsars portrayed war, especially victorious battles, as glorious moments in history. However, much of how war has been portrayed changed with the advent of photography. Even when viewed today, early wartime photography…

Writing non-fiction and fiction for nearly thirty years hadn’t prepared me for the eager response that I received when I began offering writing workshops. In my first workshop in a small town in northern Wisconsin, a wide-range of people attended, who wanted to write poetry, fiction, historical non-fiction, devotions, family histories, and memoirs. In a…

In just a few days, we will experience one of the great differences between the ancient and modern worlds.  I’m referring to the solar eclipse which will bring thousands of sun-gazers to our county.  Driving through downtown Franklin last week, I saw signs of how we modern and scientifically-educated people are dealing with the coming…

All of us who are interested in presidential politics must admit that Donald Trump has thrown out the playbook on how to get elected.  It is stunning how many of the time-honored taboos that all previous candidates had to avoid have been ignored by Trump. Not that long ago, even the hint of sexual impropriety…

As my wife and I watched the Oscar awards last Sunday, she remembered that the last night we watched the entire ceremony was when we lived in LA back in the early seventies. That was when we were first married and our TV was a black and white box with a screen about ten inches…