All Hands On Deck

We built a deck at my son’s house last week. Of course, we chose the hottest week of the year so far to be outside lifting 2×10’s into place and running an overheating screw gun. It was brutal, but it was also fun and very satisfying. You will have to take my word for it…

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Closer To The Heart

I have a friend who shares my love of music. We play a game where we use song lyrics and titles to carry on a conversation. The game often begins with one of us texting an obscure lyric and then waiting for a response. Most of the time, this leads to both of us listening…

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Let Freedom Ring

Popular use of the phrase “let freedom ring” comes from its use in the song “America” (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee), written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831. Dr. Martin Luther King referenced both the song and the phrase in his famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August…

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My Watch Loves Me

I was in Grand Rapids to visit Steelcase and decided to walk to breakfast at a place called Little Bird. I had eaten there a few years ago and was excited to experience their creative breakfast menu again. In the same area, one can also find the Grand Rapids Art Museum and a store named Kilwins, where you can purchase handmade…

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Back Pain

I suffer from lower back pain. Thankfully it is not constant and is often tied to my controllable behaviors. The better I take care of myself, the less pain I experience. Today is one of the days where I hurt, and I have been thinking about how that affects me. While pain is necessary as…

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Memorial Days

Today is Memorial Day in the United States—a day set aside to remember those who have died in the service of our country. Originally called Decoration Day, the tradition of visiting the graves of fallen soldiers likely began before the Civil War was even over. In 1971, Congress standardized the holiday as “Memorial Day” and…

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Borrowed Vision

Nestled into the landscape in the Sonoran Desert above Phoenix sits Taliesin West, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and studio. Wright and his students (the Taliesin Fellowship) lived and worked there during the winters from 1937 until Wright’s death in 1959. I went to Taliesin last week to see the architecture again but also…

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Leading The Flock

I spent the night once in the DuPage County Jail in Chicago. I got there by being a leader, leading five other young men in the wrong direction. I saw a video recently that reminded me when a leader is wrong, it has serious impacts on many other people. In this video, we are watching an unremarkable street…

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I Feel Loved

In “I Feel Loved,” the 2001 release by English electronic group Depeche Mode, Martin Gore’s lyrics paint a picture of how feeling loved cuts through pain and heartache and loneliness. It’s the dark night of my soulAnd temptation’s taking holdBut through the pain and the sufferingThrough the heartache and tremblingI feel loved I recently heard a…

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Arts And Crafts

More than one person around me lately has said that something was part art and part science. Many examples of art intersecting with science exist around us. Art is crucial in helping us understand our scientific legacy, and science is well served by applying an artistic lens. Together, art and science help us interpret, study,…

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