In the sci-fi classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” our heroes discover that most of the once-familiar faces around them are, in fact, hostile aliens in cloned human costume. The story resonates precisely because it…

Sitting on the beach last week, watching the waves rise and fall, rise and fall. The tide rolling in, receding. Clouds building, abating. Birds (and humans) coming, going. Any or all of it a…

A lot of people have been pretty upset about Robin Williams’s suicide. Many reasons for their unhappiness are given. Ultimately, I think it boils down to this: If someone like Robin Williams – a man…

It is said the greatest of all human addictions is that to one’s self, which is to say, the addiction to an I that stands separate, alone, and ultimately doomed. Looking back it’s pretty…

As children we learn to trust the authority of the twin deities called ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ and then, a bit later, that same authority is transferred to the school gods known as teachers. As…

When I was a kid my mom used to caution that I was “too smart for my own good.” She was right. We’ll circle back to this in a moment. Recently I’ve been marveling at…