If all goes according to plan, I have a podcast that will be live on July 14—Ordinary Chaos. This post was born in that project, but the takeaway isn’t about the podcast. Hang with me. Ordinary Chaos has several different threads within it, but the overall premise is that people don’t need to be famous to … Read more
On a tour at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, while looking at the equipment and reproductions of the photographs that were used to discover Pluto, we learned about Clyde Tombaugh, the man behind the discovery. The story as I remember it is that Percival Lowell believed there to be another planet because of oddities in … Read more
In college, I had a repetitive stress injury that prevented me from playing my flute. A year later, an ear infection caused me to go deaf in my right ear. In addition to seeing medical doctors, I went to see a therapist. At the time, my relationship with my family was a mess. No one … Read more
Just be yourself! It’s the little things that matter. Follow your heart. Time heals all wounds. You can do anything you set your mind to. Don’t give up. So much advice is tossed around, getting likes and shares, cultivating warm and fuzzies. Also cultivating confusion and shame. The advice has a place, but it’s not … Read more
“The treasure is more fun when it’s lost.” That was the opening line from Gabe Anderson’s email. “Found treasure becomes normal treasure and eventually we forget that it’s treasure at all.” It was thought-provoking. His context was work (he’s a musician), but it applies to everything that we have on a sort of pedestal in … Read more
“People from the northeast are so rude/straightforward/abrupt.” Or so I’ve heard. My experience is more that if you ask a stranger for directions in those places, they’re going to give you directions and move on. No small talk about the day or why you’re going there or the weather or where you’re from. But I’m … Read more
A friend sent me an article recently called The Japanese Art of Grieving a Miscarriage (You can read it here.) It’s a beautiful article. I wasn’t sold on it at first then was glad I kept reading because the whole concept turned out to be lovely. I’ve long believed that the way we handle early … Read more
It doesn’t feel right to prattle on about the usual things today. The problem of gun violence is overwhelming. The problem of black people murdered by police is overwhelming. The problem of racism is overwhelming. There are solutions or partial solutions to these, and we rationalize our way around them. How do we connect when … Read more
NextDoor is not known for being a place of warmth and positivity. Someone’s car got broken into and they posted about it. Scores of comments on the post that mainly fell into three categories: 1-mine too; 2-that sucks; 3-were your doors locked? At some point, the writer conceded that he hadn’t locked his doors and … Read more
During college, I ended up changing my primary instrument from flute to trombone, taking two extra years to complete my degree because I needed to be proficient enough on the trombone to pass a jury or a recital. With all of the metaphorical sweat equity that went into becoming competent, there was no way I … Read more