Thanks to my friend Judy who sent me these.
“Another Saturday night at home and I just realized, even the trash goes out more than I do.”
“Is it too early to put up the Christmas tree yet? I’ve run out of things to do.” . . .
How Biden Chose Harris
I was a little surprised that Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate. Like many others, I thought that her takedown of Biden in one of last year’s debates would count against her, not to mention her apparent inability as a candidate to articulate a consistent and coherent platform…
Reading the New York Times Out Loud
Years ago I read a column by the New York Times columnist Russel Baker in which he described a typical day. It started with sitting up in bed with a cup of coffee reading the Times. I was immediately envious, so I started going to bed earlier each night so that I’d have time to read the Times in the morning before getting ready for work…
“Five Wishes” for End of Life
I wrote yesterday about Atul Gawande’s book, Being Mortal. I’m following up with a post about an organization called Five Wishes, which helps families have conversations with their loved ones about the kinds of care and comfort they want as they approach the end of their lives. . . .
Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
In deciding what to write about today, I asked myself whether there are any books I’ve read lately that I would recommend unconditionally. As I scanned my bookshelf, the one that jumped out was Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande. It’s a wonderful and thought-provoking look at how our society cares for — or fails to care for — its oldest and most infirm members. . . .
That Photo on the Home Page
The photo at the top of this blog’s home page, an uncropped version of which appears above, is a view of Lake George from the porch of my family’s summer home in Huletts Landing, New York. Lake George is known as “the queen of American lakes.” It’s one of the loveliest places I’ve ever been….
Morning Pages
Years ago my friend Jill told me about The Artist’s Way
by Julia Cameron, a book of advice for people who make their living in the creative arts. Perhaps the best-known suggestion in the book is a practice Cameron calls “Morning Pages,” a kind of stream-of-consciousness journaling to be done each morning. . . .
Biden and FDR
David Brooks had a column in the New York Times last week called “The Future of American Liberalism: What Biden can learn from F.D.R.” I won’t try to summarize the column — you can read it for yourself if you’re interested — but I will say that I’ve long thought that the modern Democratic party should more emphatically reclaim FDR’s governing philosophy: a sweeping vision rooted in pragmatic, populist progressivism…
Jane the Virgin
Jennifer and I were late to the party with Jane the Virgin, which aired from 2014 to 2019. We just started watching it on Netflix and are four episodes in. The series won a raft of awards, but we never got around to checking it out until our friend Lee put us onto it a couple of weeks ago…
Which Country Has the World’s Best Health Care?
I just finished reading the book, Which Country Has the World’s Best Health Care? by Ezekiel Emanuel. I won’t keep you in suspense about Emanuel’s answer to that question. He asserts that no country can be said to have the best health care overall. There are several dimensions (Emanuel identifies 22) on which one can assess a country’s health care system…