We are not, most of us, in the habit of expecting kindness. Not from strangers, not without motive, and certainly not without a price. The world trains us otherwise. Transactions, […]
Finance and Economy - Health and Wellness - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
Strong Men, Weak Men, and the Hamster Wheel of History
There are moments in life that make you feel like a genius. For most people, it’s when they successfully parallel park on the first try or remember someone’s name at […]
Health and Wellness - Social and Self-Help
Lies for the Weak, Truth for the Brave
“To offend a strong man, tell him a lie. To offend a weak man, tell him the truth.” That was Marcus Aurelius, by the way, who managed to govern an […]
Finance and Economy - Social and Self-Help
The One Thing Hackers Can’t Steal: Why Human Connection Is Our Last Safe Asset
The news slid across my screen the same way it always does now, like a mild paper cut to the brain. Just enough to sting but not enough to stop […]
Health and Wellness - Social and Self-Help
The Big Cosmic Joke and Other Light Reading
I first suspected that existence was absurd while eating a corn dog at the Iowa State Fair. It wasn’t the corn dog itself, though that could be argued philosophically, it’s […]
Health and Wellness - Social and Self-Help
Family Is Who Shows Up: Why Blood Doesn’t Always Make You Kin
Family has never been a matter of blood. Not truly. The phrase is old and worn, like great-grandmother’s quilt passed down so many generations it has lost its stitching. We […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money
The Surprisingly Undramatic Evolution of Money
For as long as people have lived together, they have traded things. A fish for a net. A chicken for some cloth. A promise for peace. Before the accountant’s ledger […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
Invest Like You Care: A Beginner’s Guide to Looking Virtuous
It all started with an ad that popped up while I was reading an article about how the ultra-wealthy plan to survive climate change. I was halfway through a paragraph […]
Health and Wellness - Social and Self-Help
Friends Just Get in the Way of Watching TV
The other night, in a moment of either deep cultural insight or total defeat, I found myself watching King of Queens while eating a bowl of cereal that technically expired […]
Health and Wellness - Social and Self-Help
How to Stay Sane in an Insane World: Lessons from a 4th-Century Truth Teller
In high school, I once got into an argument with a guidance counselor over the definition of the word “truth.” She said it was about facts. I said it was […]