How often do you ponder what you’re doing and why? Our “just do it” culture admires action and denigrates contemplation as “overthinking.” This prejudice in the English-speaking world is old. Rhetoric accompanying Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries expressed distrust of contemplation while it praised action. Hamlet’s misgivings about deep thinking also reflect this bias. Izaak Walton’s 17 th -century The Complete Angler championed a balance of action and contemplation to counter the

Life moves at a rapid pace, regardless of our profession or vocation. We rely on communication forms that are short and sweet: Texts, tweets, and SnapChat give a lot of bang for the buck in brevity, speed, and convenience. We rely on “apps” that can arrange virtually anything we need to meet our needs. From grocery delivery to healthcare to dating to childcare, there’s an app for that. Apps often minimize some of the “messiness” of human interaction. Not only does Burger King let you have it

On a vacation at Yellowstone National Park, the young son of Illinois State Sen. Steve Stadelman needed an emergency refill for his insulin prescription to manage his Type 1 diabetes. After visiting multiple pharmacies who weren’t able to contact his doctor, Stadelman’s son was forced to endure a potentially life-threatening three days without insulin. Why would pharmacists, who have received four years of graduate education in medication therapy and often are referred to as “drug experts,” not

Maybe we need stricter gun control laws; maybe we don't. But the reason we do not have such laws is not because the corrupt gun lobby bribes legislators for their votes. The reason we do not have stricter gun control laws is a particular feature of democratic politics. Economists and political scientists term this feature of the legislative process, "the special-interest effect." Gun control is a special-interest issue. One side has an abiding interest in gun control. They believe that it would

I have this clear, glass jar, about four inches tall. It used to hold maraschino cherries. I save jars. I save a lot of stuff in case I might need it someday. I picked up this habit from my dad and his generation that had to make do with whatever they had, or could find — or had saved. This jar still can’t be tossed away, because of what is still in it. The jar was half full of ashes. They were poured from an urn on the day we took Dad to his final rest at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery south

From the front of the room, the professor -- who was black -- sarcastically said, “So, now I should feel bad for you, poor little white girl?” From the front of the room, the professor -- who was black -- sarcastically said, “So, now I should feel bad for you, poor little white girl?” I felt the heat spread from the top of my head throughout my body. Her remark was in response to a statement I made when she asked, “How did you feel reading the poem, ‘What I want my white friends to know about

Proponents for legalizing marijuana have their reasons. Pot use, they say, rarely leads to a DUI charge. Pot makes people mellow, not aggressive. It’s used as a medicine. It’s not always a gateway drug. And finally, criminalization is a waste of law enforcement resources. But such reasoning ignores important facts. For instance, just like the “big, bad” drugs, pot use builds tolerance, creating a need to use more in order to get the same effect. A significant percentage of users lose the ability

On a recent flight back to Chicago from Memphis, I had a beautiful sunset view of the Mississippi River, snaking along and defining the border between Tennessee and Arkansas. Situated in the southwest corner of Tennessee, Memphis is more akin to the Mississippi Delta and the Arkansas farmland than to east Tennessee and Appalachia. And that geography, along with the river, is woven into the city’s DNA. Its rich musical heritage was cultivated from the confluence of rural and urban, black and

Not even a month after a hurricane devastated Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States -- or should I say, a responsibility of the United States -- President Trump tweeted: “We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!” The hurricane claimed 45 lives, 113 unaccounted people, and billions of dollars in damage, resulting in a clean-up that will take years. Almost simultaneously, hurricanes had

I'm a white male -- like Anders Breivik, Adam Lanza, Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, Jared Loughner, James Holmes, Charles Whitman, Timothy McVeigh, Dylan Roof, and Stephen Paddock. And it was the action of these men that now prompts me to offer my deepest apologies. Please understand that the horrific shootings by these individuals do not represent the belief system of the typical white male, and I am as outraged and saddened by these events as those who do not share my ethnic heritage. There are