To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Residents of the American Southwest are hoping against hope they won’t have to face two “dead pools” this year. That sentiment has nothing to do with Deadpool, the wisecracking Marvel comic book character played by Ryan Reynolds. “Dead pool” is the worst-case scenario for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the nation’s two largest reservoirs… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Residents of the American Southwest are hoping against hope they won’t have to face two “dead pools” this year. That sentiment has nothing to do with Deadpool, the wisecracking Marvel comic book character played by Ryan Reynolds. “Dead pool” is the worst-case scenario for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the nation’s two largest reservoirs… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. What profession creeps people out more than any other? We don’t need a scientific study to confirm what we already suspect: People are seriously creeped out by clowns. According to the digital news source Vox, more Americans are afraid of clowns than of climate change, terrorism, and even death. A few years ago, Dr. Frank McAndrew,… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Windsor Elliot was blessed with one of the world’s most beautiful faces. During her meteoric rise as a fashion supermodel in the 1960s, she appeared on the cover of Vogue four times, including the one displayed above. Diana Vreeland, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, coached her models with a simple six-word maxim: Fake it, fake it,… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Ron Popeil has almost certainly made an impact on your life, even if you don’t recognize his name or face. Popeil, who died two years ago at the age of 86, was the founder of Ronco, the company which gave birth to the Veg-O-Matic and dozens of other novelty inventions. In the 50s and… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Every time we tune in to a TV news broadcast, attend worship, or hang out with neighbors, it isn’t long before a familiar, soul-wearying subject rears its head: It’s Left vs Right. Liberals vs Conservatives. Progressives vs Reactionaries. What are the two sides fighting about now? And who decided that liberals should be called… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. “Love” and “forever” go together like macaroni and cheese. Do a quick inventory of your favorite pop and rock songs, and you’ll discover that lovers routinely make eternal promises to each other. Jackie Wilson tells the world, “(Your love keeps lifting me) Higher and Higher.” Natalie Cole declares, “This Will Be an Everlasting Love.” … Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. There are a lot of misquotes out there. Famous people are routinely credited (or saddled) with things they never actually said. Albert Einstein, for instance, never declared, “Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe,” even though it sounds wonderfully Einsteinian. Winston Churchill is widely associated with the quip, “Americans can always… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Every day of the year is special. Take today, for instance. May 8, for no apparent reason, is National Have a Coke Day. And National Student Nurse Day. And National Give Someone a Cupcake Cake. And National No Socks Day. And National Report Government Contractor Fraud Day (yikes). And National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day,… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Chicken cordon bleu is a dish that features chicken wrapped around ham and cheese. The exterior is then breaded and fried. It is a tender and delicious recipe that is entirely worthy of a blue ribbon, which is the French meaning of “cordon bleu.” A few years ago I was dining alone in a… Read more »
