Ask a historian or archaeologist if there’s value in so-called archaic, ordinary letters, and the answer is obvious. But ask someone who’s just broken up with a long time paramour and you’ll get a different answer.
Read MoreBURNING MAN
The honest-to-goodness, grab-you-by-the-shoulder interesting stuff is over here, out on the edge, just before the rest of the world discovers it. You can aspire, but if you want to be a real part of that genesis culture, you can't pretend. You have to dive in and be honest about it all the first place. Acts of honest creation cannot be easily bought.
Read MoreTHERE’S NOTHING VIRTUAL ABOUT REALITY
There are great, even thrilling and vital new worlds to discover in virtual space. But it’s essential that narrative and story always direct the action, lest purely flashy but irrelevant sensations overwhelms the reason for spending time someplace that only pretends to be real.
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THE ACCELERATING FALL
When I walk into a book store I hear lives in chorus, humanity suggesting that it might have a redeemable essence, that we just might overcome the forces always trying to undo our best parts.
Read MoreDAY AT THE MUSEUM
What is she thinking? The real question should be, "What are you thinking?"
Read MoreHIDDEN THINGS
The horizon line marks those places with an edge beyond which you cannot see, and there are more places you cannot see from where you're sitting right now than there are places you can see.
Read MoreSAVING THE WORLD
Science is an endless process. It builds on itself. But just like life, science means nothing if the fruits of its efforts aren’t shared with others.
Read MoreTHE SOUNDS WE HEAR
Don’t just be an accountant: be an elegant, insightful, artful one. Don’t simply restock the shelves at the grocery store: find subtle, nuanced ways to think about what you’re doing and then do it well. Mundane jobs are not without the potential for elegant expressions. Perception is the first part of understanding something, and transformation of those perceptions is the work of authentic creativity.
Read MoreBRIGHT LIGHT
In Prince we experienced the self actualized creative person we dreamed we all might be even if his style wasn’t our own. He transfixed us with a kaliedescopically variable self-invention and creative output that never seemed to grow stale.
Read MoreTHE MUSICIAN WHO STOPS TIME
At its most successful, music suspends time. That means music can even manage to suspend your endless to-do list.
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