You Can’t Take It With You: Inventors!

You Can’t Take It With You: Inventors!

Paul Tanner 1917 to Tuesday Tanner co-invented the Electro-Theremin, the next generation of the instrument named after Professor Leon Theremin and made famous in films sci-fi and zombie.  Tanner and his instrument leave behind the hook from this greatest-of-the-Beach...
Giving Up for Lent, or Teaching Poverty in America

Giving Up for Lent, or Teaching Poverty in America

What would it (our life, this essay, our world) look like if we began by accepting failure? What would it mean to engage a conversation in true humility? What blindness would we remove if we could willingly see the many mistakes of our life and our society? Who would...
Throwback Valentine’s Day – #tbt

Throwback Valentine’s Day – #tbt

Editor’s Note: Feeling nostalgic? Does The Boss make you want to bump into your old high school buddies? Do you remember one year to be a “very good year”? Do you quote the prophet Macklemore and spread his “only 99 cents” message? Then Throwback Thursdays are...
A New Lent, and a New (Lunar) New Year

A New Lent, and a New (Lunar) New Year

Red rolls of exploding Chinese fireworks chase away evil spirits and prepare the way for the New Lunar Year. Dragons and Lions dance (龍獅舞) as a reminder of one’s inner strengths when facing challenges of the upcoming year. Offerings of bright, colorful fruits piled on...
(Non) Habemus Papam: Papal News Roundup

(Non) Habemus Papam: Papal News Roundup

Around noon in Rome on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to resign the papacy effective February 28, surprising even his closest advisors in the Vatican. The conclave to elect his successor has been slated for March. The 85-year-old pontiff is the...
The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI

The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI

Depending on how you count it, the Catholic Church has not has a Pope resign either since the years of multiple popes, which ended in 1415, or, more accurately and via George Weigel on NBC, since Celestine V in 1294.  And in Celestine’s defense he was a hermit...
Questions, A Quest, and Quinoa

Questions, A Quest, and Quinoa

I have many favorite places in New York City. One of my favorite places, and a place that always manages to surprise me, is Union Square on weekends. I am always amazed that there is a huge farmers’ market, where you can find all sorts of organic and even exotic...