When Dolly left us in January, Clemencia and I were very clear with one another: “No more dogs.” Then it was, “No dog for at least six months.” Then we said, “Since we are not going to be getting a dog again, what can it hurt to activate a PetFinder account? We are suckers for […]
One year ago, on February 6, 2020, when Patricia Dowd died in California, her cause of death was not clear. By the end of April it had been determined that hers was the first COVID-19 death in the United States. Today the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard shows that Ms. Dowd has been followed by 462,844 […]
When Donald J. Trump delivered his now famous “American Carnage” inauguration speech in 2017 we misunderstood it. We thought he was describing the United States as he saw it but he was really previewing the America he wanted. Last week, on January 6, 2021, we saw the spoiled fruit of Trump’s real vision for American […]
There is little in the news that makes me laugh these days. Occasionally, though, I’m surprised. Yesterday morning was one of those occasions. I read a headline from The Washington Post that did it for me. Then it made me pause and think, “Hmmm, aren’t we all?” I think you’ll know what I mean when […]
I have decided to engage in a bit of suspension. I do not mean suspension in the musical or chemical sense, nor do I mean it in the sense of being prevented from playing a sport or stopping something. I mean it in the sense that Edgar Schein uses it as a technique for dialogue. […]
Elections say more about the electorate than the candidate. Since casting my first presidential vote in 1972 I have become more convinced of this over time. If I had any doubt left, the U.S. presidential election campaign of 2020 has erased it. The American people know who Donald Trump and Joe Biden are. I am […]
“Research” is a funny animal. What passes as social science research can be fascinating, funny, tragic, or maddening depending on its quality and presentation. To ensure high quality, there are standards researchers are ethically bound to observe which serve as guardrails to ensure they do not fly off track into the abyss of speculation. One […]
A few weeks ago I did a video interview with my long time friend Lamar Roth. The video told the story of how Lamar and his company navigated the tragedy of a workplace shooting and has been applying the lessons learned from that to the disruption caused by the current pandemic. Since posting it, along […]
According to Farmers’ Almanac (where else?) The “Dog Days” of summer” refers to that period of Summer from July 3 to August 11. I’ve always assumed it had something to do with the oppressive heat that usually comes during this period. For example, right now in Laurel, we are experiencing a heatwave of more than […]
Stories of covid-19 So, how is the battle against the Novel Cornavirus going? According to the data, as of yesterday at 2:12 PM, it’s going just GREAT if you are trying to kill off a lot of people in the U.S. Sometimes I wonder if that isn’t the point of Trump’s inaction. Maybe he wins […]
