In 1977, when my grandfather passed away at what then seemed like the ripe old age of 73, he had what was called senility. I remember visiting my grandfather in a nursing home. I remember helping him stay on the right page at religious services—services he previously had known like…
About six weeks into sheltering-in-place, I hit a low. As someone who is able to work from home, I am well aware my low is far higher than those on unemployment, which makes me a bit reluctant to talk or write about my situation. But, as I learned many years…
In the pre-COVID world, my daily work routine involved many meetings outside my office. I love being with people I know, and meeting new people. In the shelter-in-place world of COVID, I work all the time in my office (now located on one end of my dining room table), and…
Exposing yourself to new ideas is critical, and if you only read one article this month, I highly recommend this, powerful, important piece by Nikole Hannah-Jones in the New York Times Magazine. This long article is a short way to learn about the injustices Black people have faced in the…
Early last summer, I read Ibram X. Kendi’s 2016 book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. It’s an amazing book I highly recommend, and I recommended it in my most recent post, Be an Antiracist. It was in that book that I first heard…
On August 19, 2015, I published a post about #BlackLivesMatter. In that post, I wrote about the movie Fruitvale Station, the true story about the tragic killing of Oscar Grant, which I had seen in 2013, coincidentally, around the same time I had read the extremely important, highly acclaimed book The…
All the talk about essential workers, and the realization that so many of the heroes of this pandemic have been people whose contributions to society were previously taken for granted, reminded me of something my wife told me. Last year she attended a seminar and the presenter held up a…
At my office, I have a desktop computer. At home, I’ve used a laptop for many years – but, until the past eight weeks, I had never used a laptop for eight or more hours a day. Two weeks ago, my neck started hurting. It got worse over the course…
In a shelter-in-place existence, figuring out ways to exercise, especially in small spaces, has been important. Just about a year ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “The Best Exercises for Your 50s, 60s, 70s—and Beyond”. I held onto it for a few months and then…
In this horribly sad time of COVID, with so many families experiencing illness and the death of loved ones, by complete coincidence I just finished reading a book about death and dying. Many years ago, I read Complications by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a surgeon and his writing about his…
This past Friday, I “attended” a funeral. My dear friend’s mom passed away from COVID a couple of weeks ago. From many miles away, my friend coordinated the funeral her mother would have wanted, with a full Catholic Mass. Observing safe social distancing practices, a very small number of people…
Among the many e-mails, articles, blog posts, and other attempts at inspiration I have received during the COVID-19 crisis, two have stood out. One came to me from the Lodge at Woodloch, an outrageously wonderful, high-end spa resort where I’ve had the good fortune of being the guest speaker a…