We are zooming through the month of May, and I’ve written nary a word on Without Obligation. Time to rectify that. The title of today’s post, “The Impossible Corner,” sounds like it could be describing the constant existential threats U.S. democracy is facing at the hands of Donald Trump, his sycophantic enablers, and the billionaire monopolists. While I could shout at length about all of these topics (like Trump’s outright theft of $1.776 billion from…
Erik and I spent the last few days helping our son Ian, his fiancé, and their roommate move to a new townhouse apartment. They had lived in their old apartment for about 10 years, so there was quite an accumulation of stuff to move. When you’ve got furniture, loads of boxes of heavy books, and other household paraphernalia to move in a short period of time, finding efficient ways to move it without killing everyone’s…
The book I just finished, “The Architecture of Happiness” by Alain de Botton, is one that I read slowly in order to savor the language. This is the second book I’ve read by de Botton and he is a smart writer, putting together words in unexpected ways to create insights that make you think. One of his make-you-think statements is the following: “It is in dialogue with pain that many beautiful things acquire their value.”…