Ways of Being

Many people sometimes feel a certain sense of place. This feeling can come from varied ideas and experiences and, therefore, be impossible to pin down. Whatever it is, many acknowledge it, and few are oblivious. While physical places take up space, like cities, houses, restaurants, mountains, and beaches, the sense of them is primarily mental. … Read more

A Neglected but Valuable Side Story in Les Misérables

If you have read Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, you know the novel is long, and the author goes off on numerous tangents. These can be engaging, depending on the reader’s personality. None of them make it into the movies. One side story is how the evil innkeeper, Thénardier, had previously been at Waterloo with … Read more

Words Connect Us

The title, Words Connect Us, is a hypothesis if one asks, “Connect us to what?” I suggest two primary connections: ourselves and other people. The third way is connecting to our physical surroundings, the world, the universe, and the simple fact of our existence. Humans use words as symbols, metaphors, and mental placeholders associated with … Read more