Category: Blog
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Happy Independence Day!
Read this piece in Compact Magazine from James Vaughn, a historian, at the University of Chicago and find myself quite amazed by the unique historical event that is the 250th anniversary of The United States. The Persian and Roman empires have been in the cultural psyche recently, because America has warred with both Iran and…
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Shepherd goes to camp!
We dropped Shepherd off at Rockmont last Sunday, and for all we know he’s having a great time! This was such a big part of my early adulthood and start to life; where I made great friends, great strides in my life’s formation, and where I met and fell in love with Sadie. So, to…
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Neighbors helping me fix a water main leak
“A writer – and, I believe, generally all persons – must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given…
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Birthday: 33rd
33! Things feel, in life right now, as if they’re coalescing into some kind of clearer notion of what I want to be doing. It’s become clear that the last few years have been a slow move towards something. That is clear because I am quite aware that four years ago, having left a job…
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June, 2026: Way of Living
I have some ideal outcomes for June: Three ways to try and achieve this: One of the primary things across anybody I’ve read about or come to respect who come to do something in the world, and in their own life, is that they had a particular intensity and focus. That’s what June is for.…
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What I Definitely Don’t Know but Definitely Suspect
Narrative vs. Molecules To say that there is much that I don’t understand about the markets and the real world would be comically overselling myself. In this way, I’m too much of a rationalist. My impression was actions is that there should be legible and tangible outcomes; Newton’s 3rd law, equal and opposite reactions. Perhaps,…
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A Benediction Worth Remembering
This benediction from church last Sunday, 5/24/2026, struck me and entered right into the heart of it all for me. Life is short, And we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who make the journey with us. So… be swift to love, and make haste to be kind. And may…
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The Century of the Self
Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, worked with the corporations to create a “democracity”: a democracy where people were, and say themselves, as consumers and their every desires were catered to, while the elites of the corporations, and ultimately government, used this to control (tame) them through a perceived democracy. Freud’s insight Bernays used was…
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Dad Day
To Shepherd: Yesterday before leaving for school, you asked if we could have a Dad Day. You meant, “Can me and you go do stuff?” You made me feel quite special at this request! We ended up going to Town Hardware to get a beamo (big flying frisbee) and going to Pisgah to throw it…
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“Dad, what’s your plan for the day?”
Getting Greta (4 years old) ready for school this morning: Greta: “Dad, what’s your plan for the day?” Me: “Ummm, I’ve gotta work.” Greta: “Ahhhh, not again!” At 4, and in three words, she has delivered a devastating critique to the routine and the man and all of it, daring me to act as if…