Monthly Archives: July 2015

GPS: yet another delegation of power

My wife and I were in Boston recently, driving to a French restaurant where we were looking forward to having lunch. The city is complicated territory to us country mice, but the GPS lady –nice, if a bit of a know-it-all—seemed to have it under control. Do this, do that, turn here, turn there, turn […]

GPS: Another delegation of power

My wife and I were in Boston recently, driving to a French restaurant where we were looking forward to having lunch. The city is complicated territory to us country mice, but the GPS lady –nice, if a bit of a know-it-all—seemed to have it under control. Do this, do that, turn here, turn there, turn […]

The brave aren’t necessarily heroes

The discussion of the meaning of the Confederate flag has called attention to the crucial distinction between bravery and heroism. Confederate soldiers were famously brave fighters; but it was bravery in the service of racism and slavery. If it was heroism, it was heroism to those who wanted to continue that racist slavery- based way […]

Death: we can’t get there from here.

Death’s bad reputation (see 5 June blog) as an obscene, scandalous social disease is one form of denial. Death is made into such a dreadful specter it is unacceptable, not as manner of speaking, but actually: as in “I won’t accept it.” (This works better when you are at an age where one’s own death […]

Reconstructing Ocean View Drive

Earlier this year I wrote a column on the mysterious origins of Ocean View Drive in Wellfleet, the road paralleling the ocean and connecting four town beaches, from LeCount’s Hollow (aka Maquire’s Landing) at the southern end to Newcomb Hollow at the northern end. The real mystery, for me, was why the date and circumstances […]

Creativity isn’t (necessarily) good

In an early radio report of the recent upstate New York prison break, the reporter made a point of emphasizing that Governor Cuomo “seemed truly impressed” with the sheer accomplishment of the escape. Vicious murderers they may be, the governor seemed to think, but you have to admire the creativity. There was a touch of […]

The creativity of everyday life

We tend to use the word and concept “creative” very restrictively. Mostly for artists, maybe inventors. Most jobs are not considered creative. Or most lives. There are creative people and there are the rest of us. We tend to put creative people on a pedestal. But if you back off from this common creative/uncreative dichotomy […]