The Obama administration states it will continue to keep its heel on the throat of BP to hold it accountable.  Rand Paul responds that this is un-American. And so goes the process that we call politics. But since that exchange several weeks ago, I’ve been pondering anew what it means to be “American”.  What do… Continue reading American

A friend forwarded me a link to a fantastic video talk by African novelist Chimamanda Adichie in which she talks about the danger of a single storyline.  With humor and an easy storytelling manner, she makes a powerful case for the dangers of misunderstanding others when we only hear a single story about another person… Continue reading The Danger of a Single Storyline

I needed a break from things this afternoon, and it was a gorgeous day, so I made my way to Frank Holten State Park in East St. Louis for a real lunch break.  I found a picnic table in the shade next to the lake.  After about 15 minutes I saw a duck gracefully gliding… Continue reading The gracefully gliding duck

I read an interesting article in Sojourner’s magazine the other night called “The Story of Your Life: What fiction teaches us about what’s real“.  The essence of the article questions what our lives would be like if at the end of each year or the end of our life we had that same sense of… Continue reading The Story of Your Life

Finding an affordable, durable, flexible rolling computer desk for public computing centers can be a real challenge.  My solution was to build this trapezoidal desk.  The top is 38″ across the front to easily hold a keyboard, mouse, book, and 20″ monitor, while the space underneath is wide enough to securely hold a tower computer. … Continue reading Building a Rolling Computer Desk