I was first introduced this quote as an old Chinese proverb: “Excellence is the enemy of good.” While it sounds like an old and wise Chinese proverb it is not. It is a concept that men and women should understand and some do so early, some do so late, and some not at all. For […]
Archive | October, 2011
“Killing Lincoln”
Recommending books is dicey business. While you are eager to share your good fortune you also give away insights to yourself. While I would be loath to be associated with Bill O’Reilly, I am compelled to recommend Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. Subtitled “The shocking assassination that changed America forever,” it is a […]
Words Have Meaning
“I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” This paraphrase of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was taken from a speech he gave just months before his assassination in 1968. In the speech Dr. King imagines his funeral eulogy and asks his audience not to mention his Nobel Peace Prize […]
Wordstock 2011, Portland Marathon, and Occupy Portland
I attended the Wordstock 2011 festival at the Oregon Convention Center yesterday and today. I signed up for several of the sponsored seminars and spent free time in the exhibition hall. Steve Almond’s writers workshop “Radical Disclosure (or Can I Really Write That About My Mother-in-Law) on Saturday was intense, crowded, and therapeutic. Steve reminds us […]
811
In praise of the 811 system in the United States. This is the system one is supposed to contact before digging. I was about to start digging up the ground last week to plant a pear tree when it dawned on me (after digging and planting a number of shrubs) that I needed to find […]
