Life & Politics Blog

Home is where your heart is

I have been a traveler. Although I have lived in East Tennessee for over thirty years, I am not “from here.” In some respects, I will always be from somewhere else. But where? When… Read More

Why is balance so hard to achieve?

We seek it, yet it often seems elusive: “balance.” A state of equilibrium. Like a law of thermodynamics, it is cancellation of one set of influences by equal opposing forces. Sorry, but life just… Read More

Who will watch the watchers?

The debate about Artificial Intelligence (AI)and how it should be used and allowed to develop came to a head recently when OpenAI (the parent of ChatGPT) cofounder Sam Bankman was fired by the company’s… Read More

Regret and Gratitude-two sides of the same coin

There are many powerful forces at work in the world. Natural drives like gravity and magnetism impact our physical being. Other influences are more subtle. Economic forces (e.g., inflation) drive human conduct. Social imperatives,… Read More

Falling Apart but Falling Forward

Well, it is happening again. Another system failure. The red lights and sirens don’t sound, but the warning signs flare. I have become more aware of my body (and not in a good way).… Read More

Left Behind

Life is full of vagaries, the twists and turns that make life both interesting and difficult. Often these are the result of outside forces that bombard us. However, sometimes they are circumstances of our… Read More

End of a Season

I awoke the other morning to something new (for this summer). It was crisp, a coolness that portended more than just another moderate summer day, one effected by the approach of storm front (we… Read More

Are you a Picker or a Chooser?

Life is nothing if not a series of branches on a “decision tree.” We make thousands of choices in our lifetimes. These decisions can vary in magnitude, ranging from the trivial to the profound.… Read More