Under

It didn’t matter how many times we’d been to the beach. We could look out at that ocean, play in it, skip stones across it, collect shells from it, get sunburned next to it, and still never know exactly what was down there underneath the waves. There were different life forms, much more different than …

Questions for Friends

Questions to get to know your friends: What’s your favorite color? What’s your favorite movie? What’s your favorite food? What do you plan on doing after you graduate from high school? What did you do right after graduation? How many children do you want to have when you get married and be a suburban clone? …

An Option Apart from Fireworks

It did occur to me when I wrote that last ‘barchive about American Culture and funeral fireworks, that I haven’t ever written about a company called The Great American Pyramid. Here’s an interesting concept. The company will mix your ashes, or your remains, into a 3 foot by 3 foot block of concrete, and add …

American Culture

American culture is one of perpetual acceleration. It’s a culture of addition. It’s a culture of hyperbole and one-upmanship. When an American gets heartburn from eating too much, he doesn’t stop consuming things, he adds to it by popping a couple of antacid tablets. When making a sandwich, an American doesn’t stop with the lettuce …

Skyward Hawking

One of the best things I ever heard come out of any scientific mind was when Stephen Hawking said that we could travel at the speed of light if we would only peel off the nonessential parts of our personal mass. Isn’t that a great analogy for death? Our spiritual self becomes free from the …