Unless you’re on a desert island, chances are there’s a laser within just a few feet of you. In fact, there’s a pretty good case to be made that our lives wouldn’t be the same without them. If you’ve got a cat or a dog, you’ve probably used a laser pointer to entertain yourself by...Continue reading
Thomas Wolfe says, “You can never go home again.” However, to go forward, I have to go backward from time to time. I return to the places where the dreams began: my hometown and the small college where I did my undergraduate work. That’s where I’m sitting right now, writing these pages. Through the windows I see the amphitheater...Continue reading
Most of us have negative reactions to certain sounds, the most famous of which is probably chalk or fingernails on a blackboard. (Interestingly, as chalk and blackboards go the way of the floppy disk, many people are just as bothered by the sound of dry erase markers squeaking on whiteboards.) But there’s a big difference...Continue reading
It’s no secret that guilt plays havoc with our health. People who feel guilty for extended periods of time are, on average, more depressed, more anxious, more stressed, and have a weaker immune system than those who go through life without the guilt. They’re also more likely to engage in risky, destructive behavior, including self-medicating...Continue reading
For years, I questioned why I had to experience the gruesome, heartbreaking death of my eight-month-old puppy Ezra. It seemed so horribly tragic, meaningless, and preventable. I was fourteen years old, and for 10 years I had experienced what felt like two separate lives as I visited back and forth between my divorced parents. The...Continue reading
The eggs didn’t fertilize. No sperm was found. The embryos fell apart in the dish. The pregnancy test was negative, again. To boot, you’re out of money and utterly and totally exhausted. Your mind is an empty room on a cold, gray day, filled only by the scattered noise of rustling leaves outside. And now...Continue reading
Just a few months ago, my brother welcomed his newborn son to the world. Imagine the differences between his experience and the experience my own father had when we were born. Case in point: When my mom was delivering me in the hospital, my dad had no idea how to help during labor. Flustered and...Continue reading
How big was your family a couple of generations ago? Dial things back a half a century and you’d see that having 3 or 4 kids was pretty much average in America. Now, having 2 kids or fewer is the norm. What happened? Are we less fertile? I know what you’re thinking: so what if modern...Continue reading
Editor’s note: This post is part 1 in a 3 part series on the Mother-Son dynamic. Click here for the other posts in the series. The other night I had a dream: I was running down a dark street. I had a lot of money in my wallet, and knew it was dangerous to be in...Continue reading
“It’s not about me anymore, is it Doc?” I hear this all the time from men I helped to become new Dads. New responsibility, new priorities, new love. Maybe that’s why having children has been called one of few “vertical moves” in life. While fatherhood changes many a life, it’s also no bed of roses....Continue reading