In 2009-10 we lived in the Netherlands. The Dutch do lots of things better than we do, including bike paths, reclaiming land from the sea, bread, and public transportation. There are things the United States does better than the Netherlands.…
Donald Trump in front of a church with a Bible in his hand Monday night got me thinking about George Washington. Perhaps you’ve heard the stories about Washington’s piety. There are accounts that portray him as a fervent Christian holding…
I have been transfixed over the past several weeks by The Last Dance, ESPN’s ten-part documentary ostensibly about the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls but really a behind-the-curtain look at the basketball god Michael Jordan. There is no question that Jordan is…
Our recent unprecedented misuse of the word “unprecedented” finally got to me. I am both a word geek and history freak, and although our stay-at-home orders are extraordinary, this moment is not unprecedented. Humanity has faced pandemics and global crises…
In the moments I’m not self-righteously clucking “tsk, tsk,” at the toilet-paper-hoarding masses, I’m doing mental math estimating how long our supply might last. We’re starting to run low, the stores are empty, and I am anxious. If something doesn’t…
Perhaps you’ve heard the story about the woman who received a text message that said, “I am here for you.” Immediately, she wrote back saying how good that made her feel. She’d been going through so much lately and was…
The last time I got into a fight fight, a physical fight with hitting and punching, was almost fifty years ago. I was in junior high then, riding my bike home on a path behind my school, when a kid…
A few years ago I happened to be walking out of a jet bridge alongside the actor Michael Keaton. He was alone, caught for a moment between the protection of the first class cabin and the bodyguard waiting at the…
The stories of the wittiest are probably false. Oscar Wilde allegedly said, “Either this wallpaper goes or I do,” but those present reported nothing and it wasn’t until years later that the story of his wit in the face of…
One day when my daughter was about three, I came home, sat on the couch, opened the afternoon newspaper, and buried myself inside its pages. My daughter toddled up with a book in her hand and said, “Daddy, please read…
