Lord of the Flies

February 7, 2011 By Christy Thomas

On a Facebook post during the week of ice, snow, and enforced time with family, one father wrote that, left unchecked, his sons quickly developed a “Lord of the Flies” mentality. “Lord of the Flies” mentality refers to the book by William Golding, first published in 1954, about a group of British schoolboys who find themselves on an abandoned island with no adult supervision. Although they first try to cooperate, this immature society eventually degenerates to a point where brutality... Read more

Rolling Blackouts

February 2, 2011 By Christy Thomas

Today, and I would guess for several days, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex power users will be subject to rolling blackouts—approximately every two hours, all electricity goes out in selected areas for a minimum of 15 minutes. Some areas have experienced well over an hour before the power comes back on. I personally was expecting this. I’ve been in this area before when lingering cold hit and knew that the system would become overloaded at some point. So far, it’s no... Read more

On The Playing Field

January 31, 2011 By Christy Thomas

Why would anyone go to the Super Bowl? It’s wildly expensive, crowded, and will be nearly impossible to get in and out of the parking lot. How much easier to watch it on the ever-present HDTV, with expert camera angles, immediate replays, ability to see the best play in slow motion, and, even better, a way to pause the game for a dash to the bathroom or kitchen! So why go? Because attending a live event adds power to the... Read more

The Manor Revisited

January 26, 2011 By Christy Thomas

Note: this is an excerpt from An Ordinary Death: Where Grief and Relief Hold Hands, available from Amazon.com. I am just now, after some months away, spending an extended time at The Manor, which is the term my brother, sister and I use to refer to the house my mother designed and my parents lived in for the last 25 years. I came here to savor the quiet, to hear my mother’s voice again, and to write with some extended... Read more

The Crash and The Recovery

January 25, 2011 By Christy Thomas

My hard drive crashed last night. I have been on a writing retreat for over a week now. Productive, powerful time. I pulled together the hundreds of articles I’ve written over the years and realized that I’ve written four good books from them. I also spent several days revising and rewriting what is my Magnum Opus, a book called, “An Ordinary Death,” an account of my mother’s decline and death and all I learned from this, both about myself and... Read more

Right and Left

January 24, 2011 By Christy Thomas

Much of the world is geared for right-handers, who make up 85-90% of human population. Many tools—table saws, scissors, manual can openers, for example—are nearly impossible for left handers to use properly. Don’t believe me? All you right-handers out there: pick up a pair of scissors with your left hand and try to make them work. Just try it. The words “right and left” also have interesting linguistic implications. In Latin, the word “sinistra,”from which we get “sinister,” originally meant... Read more

They Will Know We Are Christians

January 21, 2011 By Christy Thomas

“They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love.” I sang that song frequently in my early discovery of the life-changing transformation of Christian faith. Simple but profound lyrics remind us of Christian unity, the joy of walking and working side by side. A song full of hope. Sadly, hope rarely realized in the larger Christian world, the one place above all where it should be seen. The world pounds us with nastiness. Public and private horrors confront us at... Read more

This Present Moment

January 21, 2011 By Christy Thomas

Note: this is an excerpt from An Ordinary Death: Where Grief and Relief Hold Hands, available from Amazon.com. As I awoke this morning and looked out, I saw a hard frost covering the expansive view outside the upstairs windows of my mother’s house. Cold, hard, glittering, beautiful. The early light from the sunrise enhanced the silver tones of frost, producing an intriguing monotone effect. A touch on the thermostat almost immediately sent warm air into the chilly room, and I... Read more

Children: Disposable Commodities

January 18, 2011 By Christy Thomas

The news hit the cyber world last week. A new memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” by Yale Law School Professor, Amy Chua upstaged all of us wimpy American parents. One commentator noted that Chua “didn’t let her own girls go out on play dates or sleepovers. She didn’t let them watch TV or play video games or take part in garbage activities like crafts. Once, one of her daughters came in second to a Korean kid in a... Read more

The Single Spaced Document

January 14, 2011 By Christy Thomas

I was really tickled this morning reading this article about whether there should be two spaces or one after a period and before starting the next sentence. The author rants about the awfulness of the still prevailing practice of putting two spaces after a period and insists that only one belongs there. Those who learned to type on a manual typewriter (and there are so few of us left) learned from the earliest training that two spaces are required in... Read more