I hope everyone had a fine Thanksgiving and weathered the Midwestern snowstorm safely. The week was full of food. We mapped out the preparation, so each day involved tackling just one or two dishes. By Thursday morning there was nothing to do but put the turkey in the oven. If you haven’t learned this yet, the best approach to that part of the meal is to do nothing but turn up the heat to 425...

There’s an odd pattern to my sleep that I’m guessing others share. On some nights, I am awakened shortly after falling asleep by a troubling dream. I am not one of those people who is blessed with stunning recall of the night’s dreams, but I think those that occur during what I’m calling First Sleep are accessible because I wake up so close on the heels of having dreamed them. A few nights ago, I...

So many of us have been searching during the Trump years for ways to act on our opposition to his efforts to move the country toward authoritarianism. We’ve marched in the demonstrations and rallies that have grown larger each time we get out our signs and head downtown. We need to continue doing that. We’ve reached into our bank accounts to contribute to political candidates and organizations...

Next week marks the sixth anniversary of the launching of this blog. Since November 15, 2019, I have posted almost 300 entries. I thought at the start that my topic would be education, and indeed a number of the early entries fell under that heading. But in time, though I never abandoned my original focus, the topics became more varied – politics, books, autobiographical entries, etc. I could not...

This week’s entry may be on the short side. Rosellen and I have been working on a presentation for our Jewish group next Saturday that’s consumed most of my writing time this week. One of the books I comment on today is related to that presentation which I hope to give more space to next week. Yes, this is one of my occasional book talks, an opportunity for me to recommend some reading that has...