Get a copy of Mud and Dreams.
When I first published Mud and Dreams, the levels of anxiety and depression, hostility and loneliness, were rising dramatically among all groups. That was before the pandemic, before so many other things that have driven us further apart. Conditions are even more desperate today. Now more than ever, we need…
This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take…
I am part of the greatest book club in the world. One reason, is the works we select. We try to pick classics that will either evoke great human themes for discussion, or that would otherwise be hard to get through by yourself. We typically pick a longer work and…
All of life is a negotiation . . . navigate them beautifully. (Thanks to Senia Maymin for this fun interview!)
Remote work is here to stay. A recent study projects that after the pandemic ends, 22 percent of all full work days will be take place from home, compared with 5 percent before. (Barrero, Bloom and Davis, 2020). Fortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses found that they could still get payroll…
Looking up at the stars after an abhorrent and senseless tragedy, the title character in Nikos Kazantzakis’ Zorba the Greek, turns to the narrator, a man who had lived entangled in books, and pleads: ‘What can be happening up there?’ . . . ‘Can you tell me, boss/ he said,…
How do we judge a work of art? Can we meaningfully compare Tolstoy and Dickens, or Austin and Proust? Is it a purely subjective matter? Or are some works objectively better than others? When someone recommends a book to us, how are we to tell if it is one that…
By now, most of us are familiar with the mental health risks associated with the practice of law. A 2016 ABA study found 20.6% of lawyers had unhealthy relationships with alcohol, 28% reported symptoms of depression, 19% showed signs of anxiety, and 23% had harmful levels of stress. North Carolina has a long history of attending…
When my son was still small, we unplugged the television. It had been a source of news and lazy, easy entertainment. It was even a babysitter when we needed a moment of quiet. Our neighbors and the other parents understood, but did not understand. There was a timid awe and…
These have been stressful, unusual times. There are no easy answers as to how we protect one another from the medical risks of COVID-19, while also enabling people to support themselves and their families. Opinions vary and emotions run deep. As state and local governments begin to relax the restrictions that have been…