Glory be to God for poop. After a forty-degree temperature change and full water buckets, across two days, I was relieved to see big piles of manure in the mares’ wet, dirty stalls. I was relieved to see buckets drained and bright eyes and soft hellos, sounding like huh, huh, huh, with a flittering of their noses, greeting me. We call this weather colic weather because low pressure and wide swings in temperature can make horses sick. Horses are fragile creatures. They can’t vomit, so when they

A vital key to Democratic Party success requires genuine and painful introspection. The party alienated a core constituency that must be welcomed back home. Remember Obama's dismissal of some fellow citizens as "bitter" and "clinging to their guns and religion"? Remember Clinton tossing people into her " basket of deplorables"? Democrats now revile a core constituency that they literally used to own. They disdain many Trump supporters as Neanderthal bigots. Some may well be; but many are former

OK. The other day I was staring at my hands and thinking about the power and magic they hold. You realize this when you take the time to think about it. And I did … after seeing an image we’ve all seen hundreds of times. Two people, their hands intertwined. People connecting. Love. Think about how often this image -- just the hands -- is used and the variety of ways it’s used to spark immediate emotion. Our world has been bent and shaped to blend with our hands. Including how we communicate.

In It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is shown a world without him, and as we know, it’s pretty grim. That got me to thinking…what if one day an ill-intentioned angel granted the wish of an extremist who thinks the world’s populace should be homogeneous? I wake up, turn on my radio and find…well, obviously, no hip hop or R & B -- no more Elvis Presley -- rock ‘n’ roll is gone. Country -- maybe some bluegrass. Jazz -- also missing from my playlist. My breakfast of peanut butter toast? Not

I recently switched careers, trading comfort of routine and wealth of accumulated knowledge for the challenges of the unfamiliar and unknown. Suddenly, I knew very little about my job. It seemed I’d be spending so much time “learning the ropes” that I’d be inefficient, ineffective, and my performance unsatisfactory. My solution ended up being a big mistake: Devote every spare minute to my new job. Committing myself wholly to my new job, it didn’t take long for my relationships with my wife and

I had started writing my perspective about some dreary, political topic when it dawned on me that it would air on Mardi Gras -- so I happily changed gears to immerse myself in all things carnival! If we were living in Brazil, Portugal, Venezuela, or for that matter, Louisiana, we would have a holiday today. Instead, maybe you could pop out and find a King Cake, decorated with purple, green and yellow icing, beads, coins and a tiny, plastic baby. I’m sure it would brighten your family’s or co

Sometimes, small gestures can have a huge impact. That was the case recently, when I found a message in my Twitter inbox from a student I had taught almost forty years ago, when he was a fifth grader. Ironically, the message came after he heard one of my Perspectives. He is now a teacher himself, and that made his message even more gratifying. It is common for teachers, as they approach the final years of their life here on Earth, to wonder if anything they did made even a small difference to

I found wisdom this winter in the strangest of places, as one often does. It was in the dark, sitting next to my daughter, who is four years old. Before us on the screen: A young woman, believing her sister had died, found herself faced with the unimaginable. What does she do? She doesn’t let go. She owns it. And moves forward with five simple, profound, and freeing words: “Do the next right thing.” Simple in that regardless of one’s situation, those five words speak volumes. They do not require

In 2011, the Interactivity Foundation, where I am a Fellow, published a report entitled The United States Democratic Promise. This guide summarized months of discussions among regular citizens and experts about the political turmoil in Wisconsin, where I live. The challenge then was to identify some different ways that we might reshape our political disagreements while also respecting the founding principles of American democracy. This year, the Interactivity Foundation is supporting another

The poet Allen Ginsberg advises writers to “pay attention to what you pay attention to,” the idea being that the source of your creative impulse lies deep in your personal obsessions rather than in some more public space, where someone is always telling you what’s worth your attention. Taking Ginsberg’s advice is fun -- what have I been paying attention to? -- but can also be a little embarrassing, if you’re honest. A case in point: Lately, I’ll be honest, I’ve been paying attention to length-of