Jon was shocked when a Federal Appeals Court ruled that including “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance did not violate the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. Read more.
When a Grown Daughter Doesn’t Call — Or, How to Overmother a Twenty-Something
Christina hadn’t called. We had dropped her at the airport hours ago. The flight to Burbank takes only seventy minutes. She should be home by now. But Jon and I still hadn’t gotten the, “I’m home. The plane didn’t crash. My roommate remembered to pick me up, and we didn’t get mugged in the garage,” phone call. Read more.
Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder – But What If There’s No Beholder?
A flowering tree grows hidden in the canyon below our house. If no one sees it bloom, is it beautiful? Without a beholder, can there be beauty? Read more.
The Writing Room: My Idea of a Good Time — A Week in the Mountains with a Bunch of Other Writers
I’ve attended the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley summer conference three different times and loved every moment. It’s a great chance to meet writers, editors, agents — and work on your writing.
A Child Is Born — And So Is a Grandpa
My friend Jake is a man in his prime. He does triathlons, reads good books, knows all the best hiking trails and drinks nice wines. Jake has never been anybody’s rickety old grandpa — until recently, when Jake’s daughter gave birth to a baby girl. Read more.
San Francisco’s George Leonard and the Tao of Writing
George Leonard, one of the founders of the human potential movement, and I both worked at Look magazine during the 1960s. We knew each other — that is to say, I knew who he was. Read more.
A Case of the Human Condition: The Center of the Universe? It’s a Little Beach in Michigan, of Course
If I were drawing a map of the world, its center would be the little beach in Michigan where the Bass Lake outlet flows into the great, blue Lake Michigan. Read more.