Just returned from the Lilly North conference on collegiate teaching. Tired. Exhilarated. Richer. Deeper. Poorer. I say “poorer” because Susan’s “retail therapy” for her degenerative neck discs raised the economy of Traverse City by four points. Epidurals haven’t work on her neck to ease the pain. Accupuncture has been ineffective. We’ve tried sacro-cranial massages and upper [...]
Ah, a cool, inviting 65 degrees this morning. Well, the dark, pre-dawn streets are for me one of the most sustaining and invigorating spiritual places I know. Power walking on the asphalt outside gets me to my inside where I confront my faults, think of the ultimate goals of my life and work, remind myself [...]
Taking another break from my China Diary, and yeah, I know, I just shared a scattered page from the diary. In my defense, it’s the reflective, sharing time of the Jewish High Holidays, and I am in a reflective and sharing mood. So, please bear with me. As I was in synagogue last week for [...]
Dear diary, it’s May 25th, my “word for the day” all this day was “enthused.” Interesting, because up popped those questions again that says more about the questioners than about me: “Why don’t you retire?” “When are you going to retire?” “You’ve been there how long?” “How old are you?” To the first two questions, [...]
I interrupt my China diary this morning to talk about fluttering butterflies. My good friend, Ed Nuhfer is about to chuckle. It was this past Saturday afternoon. Susan, I, and Yiming, the Fullbright Scholar from China, were leaving a local Labor Day arts and crafts fair. An elderly gentleman was standing at the exit checking [...]
