Peace Corps: A Life-Changing Experience
Me in the hat, with my back to the camera, playing cards with another Peace Corps volunteer, Rory Karlsen (RIP, Rory), and several Marshallese “likaos” (young men) during a break from Peace Corps...
View ArticleRev. Peter Gomes 1942-2011: A Personal Remembrance
The Reverend Peter J. Gomes, acclaimed preacher, best-selling author, and minister to Harvard University for four decades, passed away on February 28, 2011, due to complications from a prior stroke....
View ArticleLoving Las Vegas and the Ghosts of My Father
I don’t gamble much. I don’t drink much. I don’t smoke. I don’t go out clubbing. I don’t go to the shows. And, I definitely don’t partake in the girls who could be direct to my hotel room in 20 minutes...
View ArticleLearning to Forgive
Forgiveness is one of those things people struggle with from time to time. Conflicts come in all shapes and sizes, some much more serious than others. This reminds me of the first time I had to truly...
View ArticleThe Origins of O: Oprah Winfrey’s First National Broadcast
Twenty-five years ago today, a young African American woman in Chicago took to the stage for the taping of the first nationally syndicated episode of her eponymous talk show. The program, which had...
View ArticleBob Dent Dies: The First Legal Voluntary Euthanasia
On September 22, 1996, fifteen years ago today, Australian Bob Dent, terminally ill with prostate cancer, chose to end his own life with the assistance of a physician, Dr. Philip Nitschke. Dent, sick...
View ArticleDancing with Steve Jobs (A Tribute to a Contemporary Giant)
Steve Jobs showing off the new MacBook Air, an ultraportable laptop, during his keynote speech at the 2008 Macworld Conference & Expo. Credit: Tony Avelar—AFP/Getty Images I have been enjoying the...
View ArticleIreland’s Aran Islands: The Richest Place I Know
Once I received an unusual geography lesson from a man living in a very remote place in the world. It was a lesson on the precise location of Ireland. “Ireland,” the man said to me, “is an island off...
View ArticlePaul Revere and the Case of the Major General’s Teeth
Paul Revere holding a silver teapot; painting by John Singleton Copley, c. 1768. Credit: © Freelance Photography Guild/Corbis In May 1998, the Department of Defense exhumed the body of the Vietnam War...
View ArticleFrom Servicemen to Segways in 70 Years
Mouse over the image below to see the view from Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain in 1942 and in 2012. Images are courtesy of Ned Mulka. Seventy years ago, the scene around Buckingham Fountain reflected...
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