8 posts
When I think, I write. Most often with a pen, staining a piece of paper with ink. I have amassed a collection of pens, inks, and paper with which I do my best thinking, and people are surprised to hear that I use different combinations of these tools to think in different ways. The bulk of my...
I am Jeanne Varnell’s eldest grandchild. We called her “Boo.” A perfect, unique grandparent name that makes everyone smile as much as she made us smile. If you know anything about Jeanne Varnell, it’s that she was generous. She — like the generations of Hyde women before her — changed the lives of...
On Thursday, May 3rd 2018, my wife and I got a call from her Father that started with, “where are you?” He was calling to tell her that he and her brother were OK, but at 1:00 in the morning the home my wife grew up in had burned to the ground. The home Leon had spent more than 40 years in was...
In 1995, I became a man. I don’t mean that in a creepy way (I was 12), but in my 12 year-old mind I became a man because that Summer while at Skymont Boy Scout Camp, I passed the Knife Safety Course. And it was this achievement of getting all the answers on a multiple-choice test which granted me...
I read a few non-fiction books a week. At any given time, I’m actively reading between 3–10 of them. And since it’s something I’ve been doing since 5th grade, I thought I’d about write how I do it. I’ll get into logistics, but first let’s talk about goals. In grade school, there was a program in my...
The Greek word for philosopher (philosophos) connotes a distinction from sophos. It signifies the lover of wisdom (knowledge) as distinguished from him who considers himself wise in the possession of knowledge. This meaning of the word still endures: the essence of philosophy is not the possession...
In 1949, my Grandfather was called to see the commanding officer of the Air Force base on which he was stationed for an investigation. My Grandfather had just taken the Air Force’s selection exam to become a pilot and there was a suspicious problem. “Lt. Varnell. Have you been informed of your...
Last year, I was on a panel at a conference. The kind where all the speakers from the weekend sit on stage and pass a microphone back and forth to answer questions from the audience. Most of the questions were directed at specific speakers, but a few were, “what do you all think of…” questions for...