I so enjoyed the new movie, Nyad. It’s the true story of Diana Nyad who, at the age of 60, decides to try again to complete the grueling 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida, a feat she first attempted 30 years earlier. How can you not be inspired by someone who pushes her body beyond...
Tag: nature
Is Art Its Own Excuse for Being?
A frequent reader of this blog wrote to me in response to my post titled, “Does Art Need a Purpose?” “Just as beauty is its own excuse for being,” she said, “so is art.” I found the full quote about beauty online. It’s from a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson called “The Rhodora.” It reads:...
Working in Sunshine
I was an “indoorsy” kid, as comedian Jim Gaffigan would say. My idea of a relaxing Saturday was sleeping in late, eating a big breakfast, reading my book, and then watching back-to-back showings of classic movies on one of our four channels. My mother would often push me outside and tell me to stay there....
How to be One with Everything
I was that child who never pulled a leg off a grasshopper or a wing off a bee. I never burned an ant with a magnifying glass or kicked a dog for barking. I was that kid who named our plants and urged them to grow. I named our cars, too, and was furious with...