Author Archives: John

Science and religion are like two different countries that one can visit separately but not both at the same time. My thoughts today on religion would probably have had me burned at the stake in former times and today as well … Continue reading →

It is so difficult to live in the moment. More and more we seem to be bombarded by conflicting stimuli that are unwarranted and often not wanted. All around us are the distractions of traffic when we are driving, drug … Continue reading →

America’s fascination with celebrity for its own sake has become, in recent years, not only something of a preoccupation but also what many may call an obsession. During the 1960’s and 1970’s my paternal grandmother read with great zeal the … Continue reading →

During any political campaign, especially one for the Presidency of the United States, there will inevitably be the need to reduce candidates to their bare essentials, that is to caricatures of their personalities with particular focus upon their weaknesses. The … Continue reading →

I’ve never been particularly political, though in high school I did campaign for Louise Bryk with posters that beamed, “Every little breeze seems to whisper Louise for president of the senior class.” She lost the election. I have found people … Continue reading →

This morning I was thinking about blogging and why I or anyone else would continue to post information, ideas, hopes, and dreams into what the writer Armistead Maupin called “the void, into the grey ether of faceless strangers.”  I suppose … Continue reading →

The domino effect of racism from even before the American Civil War has intensified once again, filtered only through the national media, since the Trayvon Martin case just three years ago. Though blacks in poor, gang-ridden neighborhoods seem to be … Continue reading →

What is there about extreme religious fanaticism that brings out the basest, most savage behavior in human beings, who otherwise at least seem like peaceful, productive individuals? The weapons used by modern religious fanatics are still, despite guns and bombs, … Continue reading →

My old Friend Charlotte Kooistra wrote something about why rescue animals are so important in our lives. I was so deeply moved by it that I’ve decided to share the letter with the world-at-large. (with Charlotte’s permission)    JB True Companions … Continue reading →

All through school I was someone who didn’t look forward to gym class. Competing with other boys at physical games, in races, and on tumbling mats was something for which I occasionally even faked illness to avoid. The ego-defeating experience … Continue reading →