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PAUL CHRISTENSEN
THE NEED TO KNOW WHY
I thought I wanted to become a philosopher when I went to college. I signed up for an introductory course and found myself sitting in a...
A RIDE IN GATSBY'S CAR
When it's raining out, houses have a different sound. The door isn't crisp when it shuts, it thuds softly, and it makes you feel...
THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING
The crocus came up two days ago. I wondered how long it might take to get some sign that spring was on the way. There they are, tough...
THE DEEPENING SNOW
Brandon, Vermont, where I live, is under dust wraps, packed up like an old English mansion. The hedges are draped with enough snow to bow...
READING CAMUS' The Plague in our Time
We live in strange times. The columnists and commentariat have run out of ways to milk horror and agony out of their visions, and now...
THE WINTER GEESE
The geese form huge chevrons in the sky and sail over us with squawking voices. Who knows what they talk about as they angle in and out...
THE LIE DETECTORS
I recall those gray days after school in the 1950s when I settled in to watch "Superman" on our black and white TV. The theme music was...
THE END OF THE YEAR
The days are paper thin at this time of year, like the onion skin my mother wrote her letters on. The hours slip along toward evening,...
WHY THE DEMOCRATS KEEP FAILING
My thoughts at this grim hour of the Trump Era turn back to earlier presidents, men who regardless of their shortcomings and faults spoke...
ON THE EVE OF THE TAX BILL
The dreaded tax bill is coming up for a vote this week, and when insomnia strikes me, as it did these past few nights, I hover over the...
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