I think of my partner as the King of Kensington. That’s a reference to an old Canadian television show set in the Kensington Market neighborhood of Toronto. The title character was a friendly, well-loved man who stopped and talked to everyone in the street. He was known for helping friends and neighbors. I am not always so nice and can even get aggravated by all of my partner’s glad-handing hellos and how-are-yous. The other day we were having an animated discussion about our respective behaviors. My partner said, “This is what I’ve got to share. I stop and talk to people to give them my attention and my warmth.” His words resonated. I had already been thinking about this fable…

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We’ve been degraded again in the U.S. I’m enraged by yet more setbacks for women, immigrants, people of color, the environment, civility; to name a few imperiled categories.How can I stop being so angry? I offer this bit of 17th century insight not to explain current circumstances (which you’ve no doubt dissected endlessly by now), but to suggest how we might proceed as decent humans in the face of such discouraging headlines. We must be kind to everyone, as much as possible. We often need those who are smaller than ourselves. A stunned rat was pulled out of the ground in the paws of a lion. The king of the animals, on this occasion, demonstrated who he was and gave…

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To be a man of power and importance these days one has to be squeaky clean. Every infraction, no matter how long ago, risks revelation. Past and present behavior may be put under the microscope at any time. Good. I don’t feel sorry for the Brett Kavanaughs of the world. They behaved (and often continue to behave) with entitled impunity, as was the custom of their times. So what? Slavery was a custom, too, and we don’t defend the slave owners as men of their times. White plantation owners should have known better. Careless misogynist harassers should have known better. After all, they could have heeded the wisdom of this 17th century fable.  “What did I do to be so…

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I’m giving a talk in Nashville this weekend at HT Live! The topic is authenticity and identity alignment, so that has been much on my mind these last days. A topic like authenticity forces the speaker to confront her own inconsistencies (okay, even hypocrisies). Am I my power point slides? How do I polish the presentation, without polishing away the grit of my imperfections? The monkey and the leopard made their living at the fair. They each marketed their shows. The leopard said: Ladies and gentlemen, my renown and glory are known in all the best circles. The king himself has asked to see me. And, if I die, he wants my skin for a hand muff, because it is…

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This past week I saw the play What The Constitution Means To Me. In addition to the engaging performances, the play was thoughtful and provocative, posing the question, “Should the American constitution be abolished?” For many Americans this question is terrifying. Yet the constitution was drafted by white men of privilege more than 200 years ago, which seems, on its face, to be a group with which the vast majority of us have very little in common. So why do we continue to follow its word? The iron pot proposed a journey to the mud pot. The latter declined, saying it would be wise for him to keep to his corner of the fireplace. It took so little, really so…

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The United States is experiencing a coup (defined as a sudden appropriation of leadership or power). The coup may be slower than sudden, but citizens no longer know exactly who is exercising power in the country or how their policies might differ from the public voice of power. There has been surprisingly little outcry in the country about this precarious state of affairs. At the same time, the New York Times published a story about how the United States government gave advice to Venezuelan military about how to conduct a coup. The article does not even mention the fact that the United States itself is undergoing its own slo-mo coup. Apparently a military takeover in Venezuela is chaos and in…

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The tennis authorities are running amok. Getting all up in women’s business about their clothing. Seriously? —a full-coverage compression catsuit and a glimpse of a woman’s utilitarian sports bra have sent them scurrying to their rulebooks.  A mountain about to give birth raised such a hue and cry that everyone who came running at the screams thought she was going to give birth to nothing less than a city bigger than Paris.  She gave birth to a mouse.  When I think of this fable, of course the story lies, but the meaning is true, I imagine those authors who say: I’ll sing of the wars waged by the Titans against the god of thunder. That’s promising a lot. But what…

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When questioned by legislators with the power to regulate (and possibly punish) its behavior, Facebook pleads it is a tech company. When Facebook is assessing what content to allow, it considers the newsworthiness, which sounds suspiciously like something a publishing enterprise would do. So which is it?  A bat found herself hanging head down in a nest of weasels. The moment she arrived, the mother weasel, who had long despised mice, came running to devour the bat.  What?! You dare, the weasel said, to appear before my eyes. After your race has tried to destroy me. Are you a mouse? Speak truly. Of course you are, or I’m not a weasel.  I beg your pardon, the poor bat said, that’s…

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Every day our intelligence is insulted by political indecencies. The president, his entourage and followers don’t just tweet, they send out barrages of insults and half-digested effluvia. The temptation to respond in-kind is almost irresistible. Fortunately, Jean de La Fontaine saw our future from the 17th century and offers this counsel—resist the urge to degrade the conversation! BaconScraps and Caesar, brothers whose heritage could be traced back to renowned dogs, were handsome, well made and bold spirited. In time, they passed down to separate masters. One haunted the forests and the other the kitchen. The two brothers started life with other names. But raised on different diets; one was fortified with a happy nature, while the other degraded. It was…

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There has been no shortage of punditry around the significance of Trump and Putin’s meeting. One NPR commentator said, “Isn’t there a fable about this, something along the lines of the hens letting the fox in the coop?” Well, actually, there is a fable that’s apropos, but the story is about a crow and a fox. The hens are not so vain or silly! Mister Crow was perched on a tree branch, a cheese in his beak. Mister Fox, drawn by the delicious aroma, engaged the crow in conversation with words more or less like these: Well, hello! Good morning My Good Sir Crow. I can’t get over how good looking you are. You are as handsome as they come.…

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