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Dear, Reader It is often the case that after death the deceased is held in higher regard than he was while living. Yet rarely is anyone upraised to the status of legend. This, however, is how many view the wise-beyond-his-years and gone-before-his-time Chris McCandless. Maybe we are captivated by him for his unshakable resolve, propensity... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, I have come to the point in this pandemic when I seem to be baking for the sake of baking rather than baking because I actually want to bake or am craving something sweet. For example, this past week, I made two types of pumpkin bread and have barely eaten either. The first... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, We meet Stephanie Land in a homeless shelter as her daughter learns to walk. She only has $10 in her bank account and is soon moving into transitional emergency housing. In the 2019 best-selling book Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, we see Land's struggle to provide a... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, The Governor of Massachusetts recently unveiled the state’s plan to gradually re-open in accordance with health and safety guidelines. The plan includes four phases with Phase 1 already in progress (for select business). The goal is to lift restrictions on society and reach a ‘new normal’ in a way that does not negatively... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, When you account for all of the physical and chemical reactions, baking really is a messy sort of science. For example, when you make a cake you must mix and combine the ingredients (a physical reaction, i.e. when molecules are rearranged) and then bake everything in the oven (a chemical reaction, i.e. the... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, Every once in a while, you start into a book not knowing what you are getting yourself into. This is precisely what happened to me when I began reading Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino. Initially, I believed this book to be an analysis on the many ways we humans indulge... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, Every once in a while, you will pick up a book, read two sentences of the summary and think to yourself “no thanks, next!” That is how I felt when I initially encountered The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, Everyone can benefit from something to look forward to. I feel strongly about this and wrote a post about the subject a few months ago (more here). In a follow up to this post, today I write about the things that I look forward to even during the lockdown. Especially when things are... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, Generational differences are arbitrary, yet significant cultural divides in American society. Millennials are irked when they are mistakenly criticized for their obsession with Tide Pods, while older generations are tired of hearing the youth of today chanting “OK boomer” in ageist protest. Things can get a little tense at times between the generations.... Continue Reading →
Dear Reader, We are at a point in this pandemic when things simultaneously seem to be getting better and worse. By late-May, most American states will have begun to re-open their economies by at least a tiny degree, yet virus forecasting for the next several months does not promise smooth sailing. At this juncture, it... Continue Reading →
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