Monthly Archives: June 2017

Even before Ancestry.com, my family was steeped in genealogical lore. Grandpa Addison Jenks and his sister, Aunt Ava, spent their lives searching courthouse records for birth certificates, wills, and deeds that bore the Jenks name. Addison liked to do family … Continue reading →

NOTE: This essay was written June 14, two months before President Trump’s vainglorious efforts to justify Neo-Nazi and white supremacist violence in Charlottesville on efforts to protect a statue of Robert E. Lee. Statues of Civil War generals and politicians … Continue reading →

Mishaps on the New York subway are relatively rare, but when they happen they tend to shed light on the true nature of New Yorkers. This month a middle-aged man fell onto the subway tracks in Manhattan and a ballet … Continue reading →

His biographers can’t find the actual quote, but theologian Karl Barth is credited with the advice to read the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Today, he would advise us not to watch CNN unless we … Continue reading →