On What Makes Us Happy (It Isn’t Wealth)
New York Times
-
5/14/22
“Big data tells us there are very simple things that do make people happy, things that have been around for thousands of years. After reading all the studies on happiness, I concluded that modern happiness research could be summed up in one sentence, a sentence we might jokingly call the data-driven answer to life…”
Community: On The Importance Of Presence In “Middle Ring” Relationships
National Association of Episcopal Schools
-
1/10/22
“School is by its nature one of those middle rings, a place where we intermingle with difference. For many of our families today, school stands alone as the one existing, operative middle ring in their lives. Little wonder, then, that families approach school with intense expectations, along with fears. As much as some may wish that this middle ring institution would reflect more of the like-mindedness of the other two rings in their lives, it is, as Newman reminds us, in the very DNA of school to be a place where there is difference. The fact that our schools have become, particularly over this past year, battlegrounds for the culture wars is a bold reflection of just how few middle ring environments exist in our society today, as well as how unfamiliar we all are with the nature of these places when we enter into them.”