It’s a running gag in America that holidays generate emotional conflicts like the Caribbean generates hurricanes. Red/blue political arguments, intoxicated relatives, old family wounds exposed, social obligations grudgingly met, and on and on.
What has worked in America to reduce gun violence? If we look beyond bombast–“Longer prison terms for gun violence! Bring back the death penalty!”–and self-righteous moralizing–“More bans on buying/using/carrying guns!”–we … Read More
You’ve probably seen one or two of the Therapist in the Wild episodes that my son Ethan and I are producing for our website. You might have asked yourself, “Why … Read More
The Dalai Lama gave a lecture at UCSB in 2009, and it was quite the occasion. He had a cold, but talked joyfully in heavily accented English to 5,000 attentive … Read More
Whether we know it or not, our social existence is dominated by feeling accepted or unaccepted, OK with the world, or ashamed of some mistake, flaw, or failing. How we … Read More
A lot of fathers are going to hate this, but genetic research has found guys probably get a lot of their intelligence from their X gene, the feminine one. Of … Read More
Four to ten-year-old kids increasingly wake up to, “I’m part of a family, tribe, and nation that I care about.” Most children eventually feel morally bound to follow the rules … Read More
“Do you want to go shooting?” asked Ray many years ago, while he and Judy were over for dinner. “Sure,” I said, intrigued with the idea of firing a high … Read More
The Christian Science Monitor (6-25-12), in response to scientists for the first time mapping the DNA of a fetus, recently had a commentary questioning the ethics of “designer babies”–altering a … Read More
People often say America is a celebrity culture, but this seems unfair to me. All cultures are celebrity cultures! Humans are fascinated with extraordinary people everywhere. In the U.S. we … Read More