The Barbershop

Boom Towns Go Bust

Civil society relies on common spaces where people of all backgrounds can meet, but states and cities have been pursuing semi-privatization of public spaces.

Sigmund Freud’s Grief

In expressing his love through epistolary lament, it may be that Freud discovered the precise meaning he felt he had lost.

American Holland and Dutch America: On the Exoticization of Culture

Culture is the ever-evolving play that takes place on that stage, as new props come and old props are replaced, even as the theater remains the same. Of course, the play is influenced by the stage and interacts with it.

Manual Training for All

Jobs in construction, health care, and manufacturing technology need not lead to dead ends...

Paranoia and Perfect Love

It would be easy to dismiss my argument as a simple platitude: “Trust God.” But it is trust in the infinite that allows us to trust finite beings.

Safe at Last

As the sun rises over the Nile or my daughter’s grave, it occurs to me that the ancient Egyptians may have been onto something. Jess lives on, her soul soars to heaven, yet she returns each day, as close as a whispered web or a patient beetle on my boots.

The Jigsaw Revolution: Finding Peace, Piece by Piece

The way of the puzzler is not about reaching a certain goal. If it were, the perfectly fine image would never have been broken up to begin with. The way of the puzzler is about the puzzling itself.

The Heartbreak behind the EEG

Modern physicians use Hans Berger’s invention to save lives every day

The Consolation of Silence

Your presence is needed. Hush. Stay. Show your love by letting them grieve.

It Takes a Lot of Tape to Raise Kids

Behind this type of play, though, is a genuine longing for beauty—a desire not only to appreciate the beautiful things one has seen or read or heard, but also to attempt to replicate them somehow.