Nov 21Are Stones and Stories Alive?I was a hardscape stonemason for twenty years, building walkways, terraces, and dry-laid stonewalls. My favorite task was building natural-looking ledges to integrate a new home perched awkwardly on a bulldozed dirt mound, back down into the natural rhythms of nature. I would first conceive what I wanted to build…Stonewall3 min readStonewall3 min read
Nov 16What’s in a PictureTaking pictures has been part of my life since I was a teenager. I have included a photo, deteriorated by age, that I took in Vietnam when I was nineteen. The scene looks so peaceful and pastoral it is difficult to believe a war is raging nearby. One might wonder…Photography3 min readPhotography3 min read
Nov 9Sorrow, grief, and trouble sit like vultures on my psychic fence*A few years ago, I photographed five vultures attempting to warm up on a cold winter morning by spreading their wings toward the sun. I am using it to illustrate this rant. The title reflects how I feel. I can’t get images of maimed and bloody bodies out of my…War3 min readWar3 min read
Nov 2Dying can be a dance, not a battleWhy do so many obituaries praise the dead for waging a heroic battle against their fate? Why does death have to be described as such a heavy-weight brawl when, in the big scheme of things, death is part of the circle of life? Like it or not, we’re all part…Dying4 min readDying4 min read
Oct 12Mindful ForgettingThe cricket’s persistent song of autumn used to haunt me, reminding me how brief life is, especially now I’m old. …Thoreau3 min readThoreau3 min read
Sep 27Being blind doesn’t mean you can’t seeI had an epiphany reading about how a blind man could still see — and, surprisingly, in a more profound way. Stephen Kuusisto enlightened me about this in his memoir, Planet of the Blind, as described by the poet Mark Doty. “Kuusisto describes a moment in Grand Central Station when…Being Present3 min readBeing Present3 min read
Sep 14My Obsession with HurricanesAs I write this, Lee, a major hurricane, is slowly churning northward off the eastern seaboard. While it’s too early to tell where it will make landfall, it now looks like it will at least brush New England. …Hurricane3 min readHurricane3 min read
Jul 10Secondary Passions Promote Beginner’s MindI thought I had retired as a psychotherapist, but I continued on by other means writing a column every week for the Concord Monitor. …Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Jun 22The Donald ShowRemember “The Truman Show,” the hit movie starring Jim Carrey about “ a man who grew up living an ordinary life that– unbeknownst to him– takes place on a large set populated by actors for a television show about him.” Everybody knew the truth except Truman, who was tricked into…Trump3 min readTrump3 min read
Jun 16Something SnappedI was struck by a recent essay by Timothy Denevi in the NYT about the writer Joan Didion. On the surface, it seems strange that I should be so affected because Didion was a conservative supporter of Barry Goldwater and distrustful of the Kennedys. …Polarization4 min readPolarization4 min read
