Three works on soulcraft have come down to us from antiquity under Aristotle's name: the Nicomachean Ethics, the Eudemian Ethics, and the Great Ethics (a.k.a. Magna Moralia). Scholars dispute the authenticity of the Great Ethics, which paradoxically is much shorter than the others, but the first two are accepted as authentic. For my "prelude and fugue" about Aristotle, I've been translating the…
Although today is my sixtieth birthday, I can't say I'm feeling exceptionally reflective, likely because I'm always thinking about my life anyway (without, I hope, overthinking it). That said, during the process of self-discovery I've been engaged in over the last few months, I've come to realize that there are three things I was born for back on August 6th, 1966: making music, seeking wisdom, and…
Before I likely disappear for a week or two, I wanted to mention that back in June I ran across (via The Hinternet) a little symposium in Plough magazine in which a number of writers and public intellectuals gave their opinion about which author might be the American Homer. Dana Gioia plunked for Robert Frost, A.E. Stallings for Laura Ingalls Wilder, Zena Hitz for Herman Melville, Ross Barkan for…
Ever since Elisa passed away in February, I've been engaging in a great deal of self-reflection (which hopefully has not devolved into navel-gazing). One thing I've realized is that, to quote Walt Whitman, I contain multitudes. Although I wouldn't exactly say that I contradict myself, I do possess traits and tendencies that on the surface might seem to be somewhat at odds. Consider the following…
I've been posting some heavy stuff lately, so I figured I'd publish something lighter: ten haiku about the moon that I've written over the years. I love looking up at the sky (some would say I have my head in the clouds!) and the moon is a classic subject for Japanese haiku, so here goes....
Recently over lunch with a dear friend, we got to talking about the fact that many people simply aren't very good at being friends. Given our modern obsession with technique, we're likely to say that such people lack "friendship skills" and that maybe a paid seminar or a few life hacks will solve the problem; however, I think there's much more going on here, because it seems to me that many folks…