Last January, I celebrated the end of my sabbatical with a trip to a tropical paradise to conduct research, right before my next teaching term began. This enabled me to trade the middle of winter in south Texas for this: Paradise “lost”. To prepare for my forthcoming blog deadlines (and to avoid procrastination in its […]
Sir Winston Churchill once made the following statement: “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” While Sir Churchill’s perspective may be indicating the direction of a partnership, it also reminds us that we must be mindful of the biases and assets that […]
Rolling down a hill in a park in Ottawa, Canada, with my 12 year old son and 9 year old daughter. Climbing in trees to play Barbie vs. GI Joe with my brother when we were 10 and 8. Pretending the couch is a small raft in a dangerous river of lava that required jumping […]
Smiles are . . . Powerful. Infectious. Uplifting. . . .and Aging? In my younger days, I refereed high school and collegiate basketball and was often told that I needed to stop smiling on the court. As one of my colleagues said, smiling made me look young, too attractive, not serious enough, and like I […]
Are you hungry, yet? How long has it been since you have eaten? Are you cranky and tired? I am as I write this piece. I went on an unexpected food deprivation plan, thanks to a recent trip to Central America. I can’t wait to eat more than toast, applesauce, and bananas again. Food deprivation […]
Attachments to other people – you can’t live with them, you can’t live without them. Kevin Bacon in his classic role as Ren McCormack in “Footloose” is a bad boy teenager who reminds the straight-laced minister (played by John Lithgow) and his quiet town that dancing is also important in leading a fulfilling life. A social […]
Hidden Figures, a 2016 movie about the “computers” behind the calculations that put rockets and humans into space followed by a man on the moon (Project Mercury and the Apollo Missions) is a tale of racism, sexism, and discrimination. This movie highlights the lives of three African-American women and the struggles they faced in a […]
Have you ever had the experience of hearing a new song repeatedly on the radio and when you first heard it, you strongly disliked it, but after your favorite radio station played it over and over and over again, it eventually grew on you? Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic” is a recent example for me. As […]
Imagine. . . . . .yourself in a grocery store, trying to reach the milk on the rack in front of you, or the last milk at the very top that is stuck in the back . . . Your brain begins to calculate the options . . . How far do you need to […]
Have you checked if your front door is locked? Is your stove turned off? Are you “saving” all those mailers, coupons, and magazines? How about folding those plastic sacks from the grocery store and tucking them away for another day? Have you scrubbed your counter-tops recently? All of these behaviors are considered “normal” for most […]