This is about truth. This is about choice. This is about life before...
In a commencement address in 2005, David Foster Wallace told the graduates of Kenyon College that they were about to face a life of boredom, routine, and petty frustration. He said, “The plain fact is...
View ArticleWhat can Brown do for you?
Char told me a story yesterday that I hadn’t heard before. It goes like this: A few years ago, my Mom sent the kids a bunch of cookies for Easter. They arrived by UPS truck. The kids were ecstatic and...
View ArticleHeartbreak leads to a tiny, lovely tribute from a worldwide community
Eric Meyer is an expert in what we call Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which are used to control how things “look” in your web browser. Truth be told, he’s a bit of a legend who has spearheaded the...
View ArticleSix-Word Memoirs help provide focus and inspiration
There’s a legend that Hemingway wrote the greatest short story ever using just six words: “For sale, baby shoes. Never worn.” There are many indications that Papa didn’t pen those words or— if he did—...
View ArticleThe holidays have arrived… along with all your relatives
Ah, the holidays. Depending on your luck (and your perspective), you may find yourself surrounded by near and distant family sometime over the next few weeks. And you may remember why distance makes...
View ArticleAn Oregonian Whirlwind Trip: From city to coast to desert to mountains
Having never been to the Pacific Northwest (and being mildly jealous of Ben’s photos from his trip), Char and I hopped a Frontier Airlines flight and landed in Portland. The idea was simple: spend a...
View ArticleHugs.
Going to use this whenever I need to refer to the word “hug” because this is how they all should be. This is my Mom and her Dad, sometime around 1967. The post Hugs. appeared first on The Cotas.
View ArticleHave Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
A couple of weeks ago, I came across an article in The Atlantic titled, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” Normally, these alarmist headlines tend to make me skeptical, but the subhead pulled...
View ArticleIt’s a dirty job, and Chris excels at it.
I was talking about how badly my grill needed to be cleaned and how much I was dreading doing it. “I’ll clean it,” Chris said. There are jobs you have to do that you don’t mind doing, and jobs you have...
View ArticleThe Desert Loop: Clockwise around the Grand Canyon
We’ve been on an unspoken quest to show the kids as many of America’s beautiful places as possible. So far, we’re making decent progress, but it’s not lost on any of us that we’re running out of time....
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