Hi, all. Wise & Shine is looking for a few new writers. If you’d like to apply to join the team, send samples of your writing via our “Contact” form. Please familiarize yourself with the sort of things our blog publishes before contacting us. We’ll send a set of writing guidelines to those who send examples of their work. We look forward to reading your … Continue reading Want to Write for Wise & Shine?
At the end of last year, this site started a podcast. We came up with a few topics and scheduled conversations, almost entirely among ourselves (those of us who publish our writings on the site). We then recorded those discussions and posted them. We were going at a great clip in the beginning. We managed to publish a new podcast each week. I took it … Continue reading Whatever Happened to the Wise & Shine Podcast?
I’ve been putting off writing this for weeks, maybe months. I’ve been reluctant to admit that I’m going through a tough period right now. For the first time in my life, I’ve been having something similar to a “mid-life crisis,” but that’s not it exactly. I’m not sure there’s a name for what’s been bugging me. You see, even now, I’m beating around the bush. … Continue reading Let Me Get This off My Chest
I’m currently reading The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, with “Willie” being the great Willie Nelson, musician and songwriter extraordinaire. As you might guess from the title, the book, coauthored by Nelson and Turk Pipkin, elucidates the singer’s philosophy of life, which was strongly influenced by Buddhist and Taoist tenets, and includes lots of autobiographical details. In one of … Continue reading Question of the Day (Inspired by the Red-headed Stranger)
In October of last year, Wise & Shine started a podcast. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be recording new episodes for your listening pleasure. Tuesday will be the day we publish new podcasts to the site. If you haven’t already done so, please have a listen to our recordings from 2022. We are interested in hearing from readers and experts who’d like to be a part … Continue reading Wise & Shine Podcasts in 2023
In the latest installment of the Wise & Shine podcast, I talk with Billy Osogo—one of our writers and a brilliant young man who lives in Nairobi, Kenya—about what the world can learn from Africa. In Billy’s very insightful response, he tells me about “Ubuntu” and a variety of other subjects. Have a listen and enjoy! Continue reading New Podcast: What Can the World Learn from Africa?
Ego. Stature. Money. Talent. Race. Power. Gender. Religion. All the things we love to hate and hate to love. These things account for all the division, toxicity, and bile in our lives. They have a magnifying effect. Especially when one is benefiting from any (or a combination of these) they invoke a ‘larger-than-life’ aura. You know these chaps. From the politician who thinks they are … Continue reading Want to Sober Up? Try Nature
On Wise & Shine’s newest podcast, I have an entertaining conversation with David (known as “AP2” on this site) about flying airplanes, writing, art, fatherhood, regrets, and other topics. After listening to our talk, check out David’s writing, including “Why I Write,” a piece that got 514 likes when it was first published. Continue reading New Podcast: Soaring Over the Clouds with David!
It’s that time of year again when my mind goes back to December of 2003, exactly nineteen years ago now, when I had one of the most profound experiences of my life. A bit earlier in that year, in May of 2003 to be exact, my maternal grandfather, a real-life cowboy and a man I called “Pawpaw,” fell seriously ill. He was eighty-six years old … Continue reading I Said Goodbye to a Great Man
Are Americans freer than Europeans? Find out when Troy Headrick and Cristiana (“crisbiecoach”) have a thought-provoking discussion on freedom, enslavement, choice, possessions, money, and a variety of related topics. Continue reading Podcast: How Free Are We?
Hi! We’ve just posted a new episode of the Wise & Shine podcast. Have a listen as I talk with the uber-talented and insightful Art Russell. In this podcast, we attempt to answer the question “What’s Really Important?” Thanks for tuning in! Continue reading New Podcast Today!
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 the most relentlessly positive people a person is ever likely … Continue reading 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! Continue reading New Podcast!
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. Continue reading 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 merely a synonym for inebriation. Many of you may know … Continue reading Zugzwang
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 to. So, here are a few quick and hilarious examples. … Continue reading 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 went to the roof, looked at all the houses we … Continue reading Expansiveness
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 another thing will guarantee our happiness. The problem is that the heavily-advertised … Continue reading 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 “shelter” which gave the felines a chance to get out … Continue reading Goodbye Spunky
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 that drives people to travel in the first place. Some … Continue reading On The Different Reasons People Travel
