• The working theory of the universe
  by givingbeyondthebox
  April 11, 2025
  Although I don’t believe in the unified theory of creation, I do embrace the notion that patterns characterize our lives, giving them coherence. In fact, our brains are always making sense of our surroundings — not in ways that always render the truth — but having a working theory is better than the disorienting feeling … Continue reading The working theory of the universe →
• Underwater
  by givingbeyondthebox
  March 31, 2025
  Often enough, we can find ourselves in a place, both completely recognizable and profoundly strange. Sometimes, we don’t even know we’ve been there until we’ve see sand from the desert on our pants and fragments from the Rain Forest in our boots. Or we see what image emerges in our camera and wonder how something … Continue reading Underwater →
• Eggsecutive Orders: We’ve cracked this case
  by givingbeyondthebox
  March 12, 2025
  Few things are more American than bacon and eggs for breakfast. However, due to the malfeasance, corruption, and incompetence of the former administration, patriotic Americans are paying exorbitant prices for a dozen eggs. No one loves eggs more than the present administration. We feel your pain. Effective today, we are declaring a national egg emergency. … Continue reading Eggsecutive Orders: We’ve cracked this case →
• Poet in a box
  by givingbeyondthebox
  February 21, 2025
  About a decade before he passed away, my father, the celebrated poet, called me home to his summer place in the Hamptons for a visit. This was an unusual event as he preferred, we meet in the city, once a year, near the holidays. Asking for the reason, he told me, in that ponderous voice … Continue reading Poet in a box →
• Sunday Drives
  by givingbeyondthebox
  August 12, 2024
  I remember only the vaguest of details about the episode. My older sister, Janet, who keeps threatening to write a memoir revealing our family secrets tells it at nearly every family occasion. My brother, Carl, the baby of our family, swears the whole thing never happened. None of it; not a minute.  It is generally … Continue reading Sunday Drives →
• Homecoming
  by givingbeyondthebox
  August 12, 2024
  In late December 1973, I returned to Chicago after a visit home to Rhode Island for the holidays — a twenty-seven-hour trip on an over-packed Greyhound bus without enough seats for the all the passengers. The Arab oil embargo put air travel out of reach of my budget so like many of my co-travelers, we … Continue reading Homecoming →

I have been writing a blog for about ten years now. I retired from work as a Sociology professor in 2019. I have written for academic publications and others as well. I have a chestful of journals that trace back to my teenage years. Blogging gives me a chance to share some ideas and put things to paper. I appreciate the outlet. My writing spans serious issues as well as the silly and comedic notions. I live in New England, play the guitar, play percussion in a band, sing in chorus, teach a bit, am fascinated by creativity at every age, and am active in my community.