Hope in Action or No Hope At All
“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And […]
Unlike Anything Else: John D. Fitzgerald’s “The Great Brain”
Visiting Utah reveals that it is a place unlike any other. Fittingly, one of Utah’s best-loved authors wrote a series of children’s […]
Suffering Does Not Discriminate
Norman Cousins’ Anatomy of an Illness is a book as relevant today as it was upon publication in 1972. Cousins has a […]
No Substitute for Real Children
Few are the people who outright state that they dislike children. There are misanthropes willing to despise what they once were, but […]
Extravagance: an Essential Ingredient for Life
Betty Smith includes many memorable details of the life Francie Nolan growing up in poverty and instability in “A Tree Grows in […]
Freedom in living beyond the illusion of control
Grasping at control is nothing new in the human experience. However, in a culture infused with unhelpful ideas and composed of isolated […]
Travelogue: The Great Salt Lake
Some places leave an indellible impression and come often to mind after even but a brief experience. Here is one such destination. […]
Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller: Education Is Always Individual
Annie Sullivan is remembered as the “Miracle Worker” who brought communication to Helen Keller who was deaf and blind. Sullivan displayed commitment […]
Norman Cousins’ “Anatomy of an Illness” and Taking Laughter Seriously
The Medieval scholastics observed that risibility, the propensity to laugh, is intrinsic to man. In other words, to be human is to […]
“Tell Me a Story”: Persistent Children and the Serious Fun of Storytelling
Children often possess a vivacity that is bewildering to the adult. In the humdrum of the everyday, this vivacity can be mistaken […]