A story that has long haunted me is called to mind by recent events. In 1614, Thomas Hunt, an English explorer and trader, was ordered by his captain, John Smith […]
KEEPING WATCH
How to Find Respite in a Topsy-Turvy World
Reflections of a retired English teacher
My old friend and colleague Marty at Blair Academy in New Jersey wrote the other day, saying, “Hope I can outlive this mess” and asking how I’m faring. I wrote […]
KEEPING WATCH
Joy at Day’s End
A swimmer’s thoughts on the importance of ritual
From early June to mid-September, rain or shine, I go for a swim at each day’s end. At some point, my late afternoon swims became more ritual than routine, without […]
KEEPING WATCH
Bearing Witness to Exploitation
Reflections of a retired English teacher
We live in a brutish world. The front page of the daily paper illustrates this truth every morning. We are confronted with the latest details about the suffering and death […]
KEEPING WATCH
We Are Not the Apex of Creation
Reflections of a retired English teacher
Ponder the improbability of it all. Instead of barren rock, lifeless water, and gaping nothingness, there is a planetary ecosystem teeming with a nearly incomprehensible number of protean life forms, […]
KEEPING WATCH
Holtec Threatens a Common, Open-Access Resource
Reflections of a retired English teacher
We Americans, whether as individual consumers, small-business owners, or CEOs of large corporations, are locked in a free market system that rewards the exploitation of a wide swath of open-access […]
KEEPING WATCH
Either Way: Taking a Broader View of Human Variation
Reflections of a retired English teacher
In 1969, when I was 19 and rode a motorcycle, there was a highway sign on Route 6 in North Truro alerting drivers that they could get to Provincetown by […]
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
How Critical Race Theory Explains a Harvard Professor’s Error
Reflections of a retired English teacher
In June 1935, Wellfleet summer resident Carleton Coons, a Harvard University professor and archeologist, helped supervise the excavation of Native American remains, stone weapons, and shell fragments in the Hemenway’s […]
TRUTH AND BEAUTY
An Artist’s Vision Offers a Handhold in the Dark
Reflections of a retired English teacher
After the riot at the Capitol, we were told on the one hand that now is the time for peace and unity, and, on the other, that the violence carried […]
OP-ED
Keeping Watch
Reflections of a retired English teacher
In 1872, Congress authorized the reorganization of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the refurbishing of old and building of new stations along the Atlantic Coast. The waters off Cape Cod […]
