I’m sure there are some travelers who book cruises just for the experience of cruising –trouble-free travel to pretty places with a heavy dose of pampering. The specific destination is of secondary importance. That was not the case for us. This trip was about going to Norway; the cruise was merely the means for making that happen. In 1959, after my junior year in college, I set off on a...
We were returning home from one of our foreign adventures. The only itinerary available included a layover in Acapulco, a place that was definitely not on our bucket list of dream destinations. To make matters worse, we were booked into a seedy hotel which drove us to be away from it for as many of the remaining hours as possible before our next flight. Our wanderings led us to the port area...
Before I jump into the subject of today’s posting, a few words about the process of getting this thing out every week. Recently I was in a group that included folks involved in a variety of creative endeavors. The group leader asked us to comment on our “process.” Years ago, I posed a similar question to a number of eminent scientists and mathematicians. You will not be surprised to hear...
While I was reading Stephen Pinker’s thoughtful article about Harvard’s battle with the Trump administration in the New York Times, I had an insight that surprised me. Ever since the infamous Elise Stefanik-led congressional hearings which led to the demise of several prestigious college presidents, including Claudine Gay of Harvard, I have feared for the future of higher education in America. I...
How does one choose what to read after War and Peace? During those priceless months of immersion in Moscow, Borodino and places between, I was compiling book recommendations from friends and reading intriguing book reviews, pondering my eventual reentry into the world of good, but not great. As you might guess, I knew it would have to be something short, and probably not a novel, to reduce the...