Positively flummoxed
IDEAS
LITERATURE
LIFESTYLE
Old Things, New Perspectives
Where curiosity meets tradition
ANALOG VALUES
Memory, Resonance, Depth
The Beautiful Nothing
Why do children read books? As an author of books for kids and teens, this question often occupies my mind. I follow trends, read bestsellers and award winners, parse the accolades and ponder formulas. And often, especially back in the days when I was...
The Magic Cicada: A Hero’s Tale
Margaret J. Anderson was born in 1931 in Gorebridge, a small coal-mining town a few miles south of Edingurgh, Scotland. At 88, she is a beacon of inspiration for we who find ourselves looking down the barrel of our second half-century. Independent,...
Humanization… period
I have rewritten this post three times. Originally, it was entitled "Rehumanizing Karen." I ran it by my smart, Gen Z, teen-aged kids and found that it said things I did not wish to say, so I revised it, made it more nuanced, and peppered it generously...
The Sugar Beets: Music with a Side of Wonder
On the most important day of my life, the Sugar Beets were there. We had made all the arrangements. Round tables, each laid with table cloths and a small vase of flowers, were scattered amongst the trees of our centuries-old oak grove. Plates in...
The Fledgling Green
Every spring, for the last fifteen years, we have planted a garden. In recent years, much of this has fallen to our friends, Greg and Amber, who share in the spoils of chard, kale, carrots, beets, garlic, lettuce and berries of all kinds. But we all do our...
Jane’s Crucible
What is it to hold to things you cannot see, touch, taste or feel? To be governed by principles no legislation can decree but the whisperings of your own heart, your instincts, your faith -- ineffable as it is? One cannot say anything truly new about Jane...
Fate Tectonics
I was born in 1969. On July 20th, when I am eight days old, Neil Armstrong becomes the first human being to set foot on the moon. He manually pilots the Eagle past strewn boulders, amid the sounding of alarms, to land in the Sea of Tranquility with 30...
Lady Venice
I have always found magic in declining spaces. Abandoned lots in the middle of a city, wedged between buildings and overrun with weeds. Alleyways of every description. The Main Street of a small town that has languished since the freeway was built,...
Literature
Baggins, who was feeling positively flummoxed, and was beginning to wonder whether a most wretched adventure had not come right into his house…
Ideas
Lifestyle
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I welcome ideas, guest posts, questions and comments. Send me an email and join the conversation about analog values, old books, new perspectives and timeless ideas. I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at: