In 1977, Linda Salzman Sagan was given an unusual assignment. She had to collect greetings from people around the world, spoken in as many languages as possible. There wasn't much time. Working at Cornell University, she and her colleagues contacted language departments, found willing speakers,
“We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated.” — Bryan Stevenson, civil rights attorney, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and author of Just Mercy. Some people have been part of our lives for so long that we can barely remember a time
“Yo! Adrian!” It is one of the most memorable lines in modern cinema. It sounds like a victory cry, which makes it easy to forget that it is shouted at a moment of defeat. Rocky Balboa has just gone fifteen rounds with Apollo Creed, his face battered
September has a sound. There are fewer cicadas at night. Some birds leave while others pass through on their way south. Leaves begin to dry, changing the sound of wind in the trees. Soon we'll hear them underfoot. Scientists listen to these changes, too. Soundscape ecology uses
You see her across the room. You know her. You remember where you met. You remember that her husband is named Bob, that they went to Italy last year and that their daughter recently graduated from law school. You remember enough about her to carry
The first signs of fall usually arrive before the school buses do. Back-to-school commercials on every channel and stream. Halloween candy in the drugstore and pumpkin beers on the menu at your favorite restaurant. Then comes the first cooler day. It may still be summer,
Infinity is easy enough to name and nearly impossible to comprehend. The Netflix documentary A Trip to Infinity takes us from an impossible hotel to questions of love, eternity, mortality and what it means to be finite.
Henry David Thoreau went to Walden asking how much a person really needs. In later life, the question “What is enough?” can reach far beyond possessions.
"The ache for home lives in all of us." — Maya Angelou People use the word home in ways that have nothing to do with an address. Someone returns to the town where they grew up and understands, perhaps for the first time, what Thomas Wolfe meant by
Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey has sparked renewed interest in Homer's ancient masterpiece. But why has this story endured for nearly three thousand years? Perhaps because, beneath the monsters and adventures, it tells the story of every life searching for home.