I wore a red shirt with a starched collar to the family Christmas party. From my upbringing I got the disposition to regard nice clothes as the first step of fivolity toward decadence. I am not sure how much of that was deliberate principle versus circumstance and personal preference, but my mental point of reference is the conception of unstained, Read More

I use my cell phone for my morning alarm. It plays, with all the grandeur it can muster, “Leichte Kavallerie Overture.” To me it conjures the most famous Charge of the Light Brigade. Thus it is likely to remain my alarm for some time to come. The levels of irony, you see, make this an unassailable choice. For the tune Read More

How odd that we most need help when we are least capable of asking for it. I am grateful the bad weather did not blow in yesterday, for I felt that I had to get home. I needed the emotional stabilization that comes from family. I don’t know why. Nothing has happened recently that is in the least out of Read More

“I like looking outside. Even when it’s night, I like to see the dark,” said my brother. I know what he means. Of course it is grand to look out at a sunny day, but even when it is raining, when it is gloomy or pitch dark, there is a reassurance and a healthy reminder to looking outside. The weather Read More