One of my prized possessions, purchased when Jeanne and I were on vacation during Summer 2018 in Scotland, is a Harris Tweed wool cap. I bought it in a small shop in Oban, a beautiful port on the west coast of Scotland that is the gateway to the Hebrides islands (where they make Islay scotch, the real reason we went to Scotland in the first place). I wear this cap to work frequently, and am pleased to report that I... Read more
I’ve been reminded recently, in a number of random ways, of just how quickly time flies. For instance, Facebook reminded me the other day that it has been five years since my son Caleb gave me my first and only tattoo. “That can’t possibly have been five years!” I immediately thought—but then on second thought . . . it made perfect sense. Caleb tattooed my beloved dachshund Frieda on my left arm for my sixtieth birthday, and I just celebrated... Read more
It has been thirteen months since our lives changed in ways that we will never forget, ways that stil defining our lives as we emerge slowly from a pandemic year. I wrote a brief meditation a couple weeks after everything shut down, at the request of my friend Mitch who is the rector of the Episcopal church I attend, that was shared with the remote church community on Facebook Live. Although our world is different in a many ways than... Read more
In a normal year, today would be everyone’s least favorite day of the year–Tax Day. One of the few things we can thank Covid-19 for is that we get an extra month to file this year; last year we got three extra months. But just like death, taxes are inevitable. According to a recent New Yorker cartoon, it’s an open question as to which is worse. Permit me to state the obvious: No one likes paying taxes. I put off doing our... Read more
My father, an itinerant Baptist minister, once told me about a plaque on the preacher’s side of the pulpit in one of the many churches in which he sermonized during my growing-up years. The pulpit plaque challenged the person giving the sermon directly by asking “What are you trying to do to these people?” That question has been central to my teaching career which now, amazingly, has been going on for three decades. Over time, I come to envision my role... Read more
The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty Anne Lamott I am currently in the early stages of planning a new team-taught colloquium for next spring with a colleague and good friend. The colleague is a young Dominican priest. We get together every other week or so at our place or his on-campus apartment to shoot the shit and sample high-quality adult beverages; at one of these recent get-togethers we talked about what we would do at our first... Read more
In my “Markets and Morals” colloquium in the good old pre-pandemic days a couple of semesters ago, our text was a co-authored volume in which two economists, who happened to also be persons of Christian faith, alternated essays and responses on a number of important issues. As their weekly writing assignment in preparation for seminar, I asked students to select a point of disagreement between the authors (the disagreements were legion), describe briefly the position of each author on the... Read more
After more than a year hiatus, I found myself sitting at the organ bench at Trinity Episcopal Church in Pawtuxet, RI on Palm Sunday. The organist and music director is out of commission for several weeks recovering from serious back surgery, and as I have done occasionally over the years, I am filling in until he can return. It’s not as if being a substitute music minister is a particularly heavy lift these days. Sunday services are limited to only... Read more
God is not an insurance agent. H. G. Wells During Rick Pitino’s tenure as the coach of the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001, he was often asked about when, if ever, the mediocre Celtics would reach the rarified air of excellence reached by Bill Russell’s Celtics of the 60s and Larry Bird’s Celtics of the 80s. After yet another loss in 2000 and yet more questions about when things would get better, Pitino lost it in the postgame press conference. Larry... Read more
During the college basketball season, Jeanne and I frequently watch a replay of the Providence Friars’ most recent game (when we win) the next day. The moment to moment drama can be tense in replay, even when we know what the outcome will be. We never watch a loss the next day—why submit ourselves voluntarily to an experience that we know ends badly? Even the worst of times can be weathered and perhaps appreciated when one knows that things work... Read more
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