Sep 10, 2026
I have written elsewhere about being sweet-talked by AI since the release of my new book of essays, An Eye For Joy: Noticing The Good World Everywhere, and the disconcerting flood of admiring and ingratiating bots who’ve “come across” the book, and “were immediately...
Aug 21, 2026
It is August in Minnesota and that can only mean the happy furor of the Minnesota State Fair. Nearly 2 million visitors are about to sample its wide array of delights, amusements, and diversions. Things to look at, things to gape at, things to learn from; it’s a...
Aug 5, 2026
In the capitol city where I live, on a busy downtown intersection, is a small sign that has been on my mind lately. Above an emblem in a simple curve, are the words “Gave His Life in the Line of Duty.” And below, a name. “Lieutenant Michael J. Cloonan 8/16/1893.” The...
Jul 20, 2026
Are your ancestors trying to speak to you? Are you the reluctant possessor of boxes of photographs, notes, unidentified tintypes, and scraps of paper with your grandmother’s handwriting? Is there a closet? Do you occasionally open the door, sigh, and close it again?...
Jun 24, 2026
Sometimes being caught by an artwork, and by the story behind it, is like walking into a complex room, perhaps an overgrown conservatory, with underbrush and overstory, half-hidden doors, and many corridors. And sometimes while you’re peering about, absorbed, you...
