“Greetings Comrade! This is Casey from Cleveland. I am coming to Cambridge for a couple of days to attend a conference on climate change. Can I stay with you?” A typical message from a prospective couchsurfer. Unfortunately, I will be way while Casey’s in town, so I reply, “Thanks for…

Time We All Stop Providing Data on Race Five years ago, I published a post, “Call Me White,” that describes how I came to use the adjective “white” to describe myself. …

There was a time when I saw every Academy-Award nominated Best Film, Actor, Actress, and screenplay nominee before the awards presentation. But when Best Film nominees expanded from five to ten, what had been a game became a chore. I slacked off, and once I started to pick and choose…

Comedy is the most precarious of arts. One person’s joke is another’s insult. And yet, comedians enjoy wide latitude in our culture because, let’s face it, we’re a screwed-up society, and gifted comedians tap into the humor of our dissonant truths. The best of them reveal actual truth through humor. …

Here it comes…Super Bowl Sunday! The biggest unofficial holiday in America! Have you invited over your buddies? Got your beer and chips and dips and wings on hand? Are you psyched for the hype, the commercials…and Rihanna! Oh, and by the way, there’ll be a football game.

I discovered this quotation, attributed to the Greek Poet Euboulos, 4th century BCE, beneath the display of a humongous drinking vessel at…

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” …

When the city revamped Huron Avenue, they sunk granite curbs level with the pavement to define the crosswalks, an expensive yet elegant bit of urban dressing. On my meditative walks home from the gym, I often find myself tracking the granite as if I were an Olympic gymnast, one foot…

Ten years ago this month I completed the first great adventure of my life: designing and supervising the construction of two buildings in Grand Goave, Haiti following the 2010 earthquake that devastated that country. My work on the Mission of Hope School and Be Like Brit orphanage were the epitome…