The hardest thing to do in moments of deep distress is to stay fully present. It’s hard because the human brain and body learn quickly how to answer attacks they can’t escape: they help us survive by taking us somewhere else, anywhere else but here. As I’ve mentioned, my brain recently took me away from […]
Never annoy the secretary
The PG version of one of my favorite pieces of life advice is “Never annoy the secretary.” It’s from the days when office administrators and managers were rather known as “secretaries,” and hapless visitors underestimated just how essential these staff members were to the smooth functioning of the office. Distracted by the glitter and shine of […]
Picking up the mantle
The best way to honor a mentor is to practice what they taught you. It’s the application of the message that validates their work, not the affirmation or lionization they might attract. Their contribution to us all lies in what they taught and worked for during their lives, not in how we reinterpret them after […]
Dialogue, certainty, and change
“Dialogue is a conversation between adults the outcome of which is unknown.” I don’t know whether Buber ever wrote this: I couldn’t find a source text for it. But it’s a smart thought, and a hard thing to practice. Enduring social debates range from whether to recognize climate change and take action to mitigate it […]
Learning about character from Shakespeare
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet muses about the conflict between her family, the Capulets, and the family of her beloved, Romeo. The two families are feuding and she’s been trained to hate the name “Montague,” yet she’s still managed to fall in love with someone from that clan. Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore […]
Acknowledging the team behind the hero
Every so often, a historian will teach us a little more about the cast of thousands who co-created the 20th Century US Civil Rights Movement, those who preceded charismatic figures like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Kwame Ture in the work, and whose stories surface far less often. In a new collection of […]
