The College of William & Mary, America’s second-oldest college (after Harvard), whose graduates include two U.S. presidents and 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence, is one of several academically superior schools of higher education in Virginia. But William & Mary, chartered in 1693 by Britain’s King William III and Queen Mary II, is also […]
Valley of the Stun
Posted June 12th, 2009 at 2:51 pm (UTC-4)
Only one lonely, two-lane highway pierces Monument Valley, a vast natural wonder that straddles the Arizona-Utah border in the Desert Southwest. And then one unpaved, rutted, 27-kilometer [17-mile] loop trail winds through it once you get there. Stubs of sandstone jut upward like broken lower teeth on Monument Valley’s desert floor The air is clear […]
The Thin Place
Posted May 15th, 2009 at 1:12 pm (UTC-4)
On the banks of the Wabash River that separates southern Indiana from Illinois, there’s a community of 915 people unlike any other small town in America. Different – and unforgettable, too. The easiest, though not cheapest, way into town is across the Wabash River on a toll bridge from Illinois. The toll is only a […]
Hunter-Gatherer
Posted March 12th, 2009 at 6:31 pm (UTC-4)
The things that we read are disposable – literally and figuratively. We toss out newspapers and magazines as soon as we’re through with them. Most of us keep only a few, if any, of the books that we’ve enjoyed. We zap or forward electronic information the minute we’ve finished processing it. Even urgent updates on […]
Featherisms
Posted October 6th, 2008 at 8:49 pm (UTC-4)
The other day I needed an aphorism, a nourishing nugget of wisdom, ideally couched in wry wit. I found some by the usual suspects: In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes, by the brilliant statesman Benjamin Franklin, who slipped apt adages into his yearly Poor Richard’s Almanack. Always […]
Ioway
Posted October 2nd, 2008 at 4:25 pm (UTC-4)
A while ago I walked down the hall and sprung a word-association test on three colleagues, chosen strictly by whom I ran into first. “I’ll name a U.S. state,” I told them, “and you tell me the first word that pops into your head.” The state was Iowa, and here’s what they blurted out: “Fields.” […]
