"A chameleon," I explained with a smile, as high above Paris as one generally gets for appetizers and cocktails. Excepting the silly Tour Montparnasse, of course. The mother of my friend –– not quite a girlfriend, but an attractive, charming young lady who distracted me briefly at the tail end of my twenties –– was shocked. A chameleon, she assured me without wavering even out of politeness, is ...
Midlife Blog
Memento Mori, Danse Macabre & Vanitas
Memento mori. Remember that you will die. Us moderns don’t like to think too much about death. It’s a bit too depressing and morbid for our think-positive sensibilities. Our culture is devoted to perpetuating the lie that you can stay young forever and your life will go on and on. But for men living in antiquity all the way up until the beginning of the 20th century, rather ...
Self-Medicating Midlife
"Art is the act of navigating without a map." ~ Seth Godin Back in January I shared Seth Godin's ArtNav wisdom. No editorial comments. Not even a doodle. (Though I've been known to update posts when inspiration strikes, so don't hold me to the spartan quote-only simplicity!) Seth Godin is ever gifted with a full quiver of sage zingers. Short, insightful quips that stick. This is one. Medical ...
Early Retirement Bliss
Good morning, midlife-curious readers. In any quest it's revitalizing and encouraging to stumble upon inspiration. Mentors and [cheer]leaders offering alternative perspectives and positive reinforcement. We all need role models. We all need refortifying when we're diverging from the herd. So on this day full of challenge and opportunity I would like to introduce to you Patrick ...
St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick's day transports me back in time – half a lifetime ago or so – to my parochial school days. [pullquote]St. Patrick's Day was popular because we were permitted to swap tie-and-sweater dress code for wild green Irish-inspired costumes.[/pullquote] I attended a Catholic day school, but I wasn't Catholic. St. John's was understood to be the most academically rigorous option within ...
Now. Play.
“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.” ~ Alan W. Watts Dusts by Mindaugas Pov https://vimeo.com/118719607 I doff my noggin topper to Mindaugas Pov for his February 4, 2015 short-short film called "Dusts", a visually enrapturing sequence overlaid with the voice of Alan W. Watts. The filmmaker from Vilnius, Lithuania limits his explanation to technical notes: ...