by David on September 28, 2009
Today is the first of the nineteen days I have left, before the life I know is over. I know it sounds a bit dramatic to identify this upcoming lengthy trip as a new life, but the way I see it the life I’m leaving here is not going to exist when I get back. [...]
by David on September 21, 2009
As I mentioned in Thursday’s article, Raptitude is officially six months old. I’m thrilled with how fast my readership grown, I really never expected this. I want let you know I’m very grateful for your time and attention. This week my RSS subscriber count hit 700 for the first time, and I know that doesn’t [...]
by Josh on September 14, 2009
Today’s article is a guest post by Josh Hanagarne from World’s Strongest Librarian. Read this post with reflection; it says much more about humanity than may appear at first glance. *** “And I held the hands while she died. Those hands that hit me.” She had come into the library to check out a book [...]
by David on August 25, 2009
Sweaty, muddy and bleeding a little, the three of us picked our way through the overgrown ‘trail’ that snakes between Blue Lake campground and the remote, mythical Goblin Lake. We were traversing the final leg of our return trip through a wondrous forest of moss, bogs and toadstools, but the hike had been taxing. We [...]
by David on August 14, 2009
Just behind the little gas tank door on my Honda, there is a silver scratch in the paint, about the size of a dime. It looks almost like an upside-down Nike swoosh. The panel is a little bit dented. I know exactly when it happened. It was a Friday in June 2006, I was new [...]
by David on August 10, 2009
Over thirteen years of grade school, the average student probably hands in a small forest’s-worth of worksheets, journals, drawings and assignments. So much of it is profoundly unmemorable: lab notes, arithmetic tests, book reports, and all other sorts of by-the-numbers tedium. The creative work, however, is much more revealing. When a kid is asked to [...]
by David on July 20, 2009
It was not until I was an adult that I realized that behind Sesame Street is a grand conspiracy. It’s been on the air for forty years now, and we’re all familiar with the format: short, simple skits involving muppets, neighborhood human cast members and the occasional celebrity. Each skit has an obvious educational point [...]
“Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions.” ~Zen saying I don’t watch the news anymore, and I don’t get the paper. It took too much time to read, and often it would put me in a bad mood. There was too much to disapprove of, too many unsettled and unsettling stories. So [...]
I feel very blessed. I seem to be drawing a small but growing group of some of the most thoughtful, intelligent readers around. I appreciate you all very much, you’ve done more for me than you know. I had a lengthy article all ready to go for today, but I’ll post it another day. I [...]
The blogosphere has grown to astronomical size already, but somehow, there still appears to be pervasive sameness to it. (Anybody know where I can learn to make money online?) There are millions of blogs in thousands of niches, and in each, certain authorities rise to the surface. Most of these “A-listers” are just especially good [...]