I’m pretty upset with myself. I grew up in the Austin area (and yet!) I never once heard of El Arroyo restaurant, not until a few days ago. Since the 1980s, besides serving fine Tex-Mex cuisine to countless customers, the eatery has been posting imaginably funny and clever signs in its parking lot. In fact, … More That’s Punny!
I want to tell you about a fellow named David, a retired educator and part-time tutor of mathematics who works in the Math Learning Center, a place just down the hall from the Writing Assistance Center, the place I manage and often mention in blogs I write for Wise & Shine. David is one of … More David’s “Walking Lunches”
Check out Wise & Shine’s new podcast. In our latest episode, I talk with Wynne Leon about “Finding My Father’s Faith,” her memoir. Enjoy!
“Finish him,” was the famous phrase heard on Mortal Kombat 3 when it came time to obliterate your opponent. You might remember the drunken wobble Raiden does just before Sub-Zero uppercuts him into oblivion. Good times. As a kid, another part of the game always stood out: the opening credits. The phrase flashing across the … More Knowledge is Power: Philosophy from a video game
Politics…has started to metastasize into gleefully naked power grabs in which the basic assumptions that make democracies functional have been replaced by a mosh pit, a zero sum game in which the sole object is the accretion of power. … More Thoughts from the Ledge of Democracy
First of all, let’s just take a moment to enjoy the aesthetic decadence of that word. It’s zippy, it’s got zest. In some ways, as we will see, it captures a greater than zero percentage of the zeitgeist. It is every bit the equal of “zozzled,” a Jazz Age term for drunk. But “zugzwang” isn’t … More Zugzwang
I’m going to do something risky here. First, revisit a topic that my brilliant colleague Jack Canfora recently covered inspirationally and beautifully in Why Sports Help Me. And secondly do something I’m not qualified to do by giving a sports recap. But as Wise and Shine is a community of writers and readers, I’m thinking … More Why Sports Make Me Feel Alive
Not me doing sports, obviously. That’s bizarre and more than a little disquieting to even picture. But for many people, sports, or more precisely, following a particular sport, team, or player, is something for which they feel a deep abiding passion. For me, it’s baseball. And even though I’m about to relate something specific to … More Why Sports Help Me
The other day I made a comment off-handedly and the recipient said, “Oh, that’s so nice.” I didn’t like that compliment. Yes, I realize it’s not nice of me to judge a comment about being nice. Upon reflection, it’s because I don’t like the sound of me when I’m doing nice. And believe me, as … More Don’t Call Me Nice…Please
A Lyft driver’s kindness saves the day in New Orleans and gives us a model for our own behavior. … More Lyfting Spirits: Humanity At It’s Best In New Orleans
“No fair,” cries my son when he thinks his sister got a bigger piece of candy. “No fair,” he cries when I tell him he can’t go outside and play until he cleans his room. I politely remind him that sometimes, life isn’t fair. We see this often with children, but we don’t recognize it … More “No Fair”: Fairness isn’t real
Like most people, I’ve led an unusual life. For me, part of its unorthodoxy is my insistence on trying to make a living as a writer. Let’s just say, it’s been an uphill climb. But occasionally I comfort myself with the knowledge that there are a million reasons why things either gain recognition or fail … More A Mercifully Brief Post About Knowing Nothing
When my inquisitive daughter was about 3 ½ years old, we had a conversation about perspective. We looked out our back door at the houses around and I asked her to count how many she could see. Three. Then we went to the second floor and I helped her count – seven. And then we … More Expansiveness
Look at this guy! Standing there in a pond full of flowers with an old, student model trumpet in his hands; bell facing the busy road, leaning back, aiming the notes to the sky. That’s confidence! … More Confidence: Mettle In Metal
The inversion of Truth (that things and achievement are the source of our joy) has become so prevalent in society that the majority of persons are unaware that it is an utter falsity. For reasons that are highly suspect, the story related to happiness/joy has become very corrupt. On a daily basis, we are informed that this, that, or … More Being Joy
My wife and I take care of a few feral cats that live in our neighborhood. They move quietly and gracefully into and out of our backyard and remind me of lithe shadows. We feed and water them, and when it got summertime hot back in early June, we constructed a crude but effective cat … More Goodbye Spunky
A few weeks ago I had plans to take my kids to a wedding in Leavenworth, WA a couple of hours away from where I live. On the day we were to leave, my stomach hurt. I chalked it up to a deli sandwich that I’d eaten the day before and loaded the kids into … More Rose Colored Glasses
Hello to my fellow bloggers and blog-lovers! I’m Elle, or E.L. Jayne as my pen name states, and I’ve embarked my own rendition of an Eat, Pray, Love trip this summer, albeit, without the dramatic divorce and existential crisis at the onset, luckily. Deciding to travel for 4 months made me reflect on the catalyst … More On The Different Reasons People Travel
Last Saturday I went to visit an exhibition of photos taken by Vivian Maier, an American photographer who was unknown to me. From the early 50s, she spent over forty years working as a nanny, first in New York and later in Chicago. Only recently, in 2007, her photographic work was discovered. She spent her … More A Lifetime Spent in Anonymity
Art doesn’t owe me (or anyone) any favors. It didn’t sell on becoming an artist like it was talking you into a time share. Art says, “You want to be an artist? Great. Best of luck,” and then it walks away, probably on its way to a gallery opening in the West Village, and leaves you to do the rest. … More Art: It’s Just Not That Into Me (Or Most of Us)