The quote below is an excerpt from A Man Without A Country — a diamond of a book by the inimitable Kurt Vonnegut. To be as wise, incensed and articulate as Vonnegut is here (age 83) is surely one definition of success. If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don’t have the… [Read more…]
December 17, 2011
Over at Harvard Business Review Jeff Stibel writes about embracing failure. His office is home to a “failure wall” where employees are encouraged to: “(1) describe a time when you failed, (2) state what you learned, and (3) sign your name.” He concludes by saying: “If we hadn’t hired people who cherish failures, my entries… [Read more…]
December 15, 2011
Follow the link for the Flikr set of some of the most incredible landscapes of Cila + Sarah’s Great American Roadtrip 2011. Nevada Hwy 6, 95 and 375 from Reno to Rachel.
November 24, 2011
Across the pond its Thanksgiving and various friends and family are getting set to tuck into some serious eating. Luckily, I get to skip the dead poultry element of the day and focus on the best part – things for which I’m thankful. This year has been such an adventure and it’s not over yet.… [Read more…]
November 18, 2011
My friend works for an American company and observed that her Yankee counterparts are “terrified of making mistakes.” How do you figure? I asked. Shit, look at Iraq. Then I thought about it. The American government is a dog-and-pony show of what not to do when left in charge but ordinary citizens? Different story. America… [Read more…]
October 30, 2011
I am amused to find a 1999 newspaper column (see below) that I wrote for The Daily Pennsylvanian preserved on the Harvard Crimson site. Did I write it at their request? Syndicate it? Damned if I remember but at least I can claim to have published at Harvard. Joan Didion wrote: “We are well-advised to… [Read more…]
September 1, 2011
I’ve always loved the sea. The metronomic crash of Pacific breakers lulled me to sleep and washed through the waking hours of my childhood. Ceaseless, powerful, hypnotic, the sea is oblivious to human need; a restless creature, always stirring. This summer, I visited lakes. Some I merely looked across: Upper Klamath Lake, Mono Lake, Topaz… [Read more…]
April 17, 2011
Caitlin Kelly is a Canadian-born writer who lives and works in Tarrytown, New York. She is the author of two books Blown Away: American Women and Guns (Pocket Books, 2004) and Malled – My Unintentional Career in Retail (Portfolio/Penguin, 2011). Her journalism appears in publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal,… [Read more…]
April 17, 2011
Christian Lander is the founder of the blog Stuff White People Like and author of two spin-off books: Stuff White People Like (Random House, 2008) and Whiter Shades of Pale (Random House, 2010). Born in Canada, Lander grew up in Toronto, studied in Montreal then moved to Los Angeles where he was working as a… [Read more…]
February 12, 2011
In honour of Lincoln’s birthday, a quote I misread at first When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion. I thought it said: when I feel good, I do good. When I feel bad, I do bad. That version makes a lot of sense. There is… [Read more…]
January 10, 2012
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