I was speaking to a group of about 70 when I made the mistake of asking if anyone in the audience hadn’t heard of (whatever new concept I was teaching at the time), and no one raised a hand. I continued speaking and about ten minutes later, from the left side of the...
At one time I was upset with someone who worked for me, and I composed an articulate, lengthy email telling her what she had done wrong. I then sent the email to an old friend and asked her thoughts. She promptly replied back that if I wanted to really make matters...
In a class I’m currently teaching, a woman, now retired from the military, told me she wanted to be a pilot. Rules back then prohibited women from going to flight school. Thank goodness those rules have changed, but it made me think of how often we set up our own...
Lately I’ve stumbled into several large, messy setbacks, and because of the circumstances I’ve felt completely justified in missing some deadlines and deciding to revisit some of my goals. I even spent a small amount of time wallowing in self-pity. Then I read...
When I was a teenager, I used to have what was referred to back then as bunking parties. My friends brought blankets or sleeping bags and dumped them on my concrete basement floor. Then we played games, ate endlessly, and somewhere around midnight we would put on our...
Apparently I asked all the wrong questions. Is there air conditioning? Does the flap completely close to keep out bugs? Is it true that the men’s and women’s bathrooms here are partitioned only by vines? It was all very weird and different–sleeping in a teepee...
