There is a longstanding phrase that sums up the impulsivity of youth: Young and stupid. It was likely suggested by some parent dazed by their child’s disregard for personal safety and lack of good judgment in the face of the obvious. I’m not saying that those in the older ranks can’t come up with...
Tags: burning sparklers in an airtight enclosure, carrying through with dumb ideas, cautioning my nephew against making a dumb move, doing dangerous stunts, doing stupid things in college, dumping over a go-cart, freakish accounts, freaks of nurture, freaks of nurture.com, rescuing a turtle on the New Jersey Turnpike, taunting mortality and living to tell about it, the lesson of risking your life for something stupid, traversing a bridge on the under girders
The noise and clouds of rising smoke have left this year’s 4th of July celebration in their wake but every Independence Day I’m reminded of my endless fascination with blowing up shit when I was a kid. I was a pyrotechnic terror just wondering, mind you, what would happen if this or that blew up. I...
Tags: 4th of July, blowing up teapots, blowing up trash cans, Cherry Bombs, destroying balsa wood gliders, fireworks, freakish accounts, freaks of nurture, freaks of nurture.com, getting fireworks from Ohio, M-80's, yelled at by the next door neighbor
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Remember that golden moldy from Franklin Roosevelt’s 1933 inauguration speech in the midst of a bank panic (run on banks)? This was sage advice from a leader who was talking the country down off the ledge. Rather a contrast from a recent administration that...
Tags: apocalyptic doom-sayers, fear as a factor in our lives, fear as a tool of manipulation, fear mongering, fear mongers, freakish accounts, freaks of nurture, freaks of nurture.com, Harold Camping, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, stupidity as a way of life, The only thing to fear is fear itself, Y2K scare
I routinely pump my mother for stories of my biological father (#1) because I never got to know him and I think that knowing something of his character gives me an insight into mine. Of course, ‘warts and all’ is the only worthy approach since good without the bad would present a distorted portrait...
Tags: fathers inability to succeed, fear of success, freak of nurture.com, freakish accounts, freaks of nurture
I ask you this in all sincerity because it’s important that somebody get you; understand your special crazy shit, your neurotic tendencies, your failings, your successes. It is psychologically beneficial that somebody, somewhere knows the you behind the facade. So, who gets you? Usually, this other person is a mate, otherwise why would somebody...
Tags: freakish accounts, freaks of nurture, freaks of nurture.com, outsmarting psychotherapists, psychotherapists falling down on the job, Self-Assessment, self-awareness, understanding another person, understanding yourself, wife has insight into me
As anyone who knows me knows (is it you, dear reader?) I am nothing if not perfectly accurate in my recollection and honest to a fault. Knowing, in my mind, this truth, I’ve set forth the following account of a particular Mother’s Day in 1954 where, wishing to make it a truly special day,...
I seriously doubt that many young men would have resisted a just and necessary cause but it was clear, except to those with a blind allegiance, that the Vietnam War, this clash between the Communist-run North and the U.S. backed South, was a civil war unworthy of our intervention and loss of life. Like...
Tags: college peers injuring themselves to avoid the Vietnam War, critical thinking about engaging in war, freakish accounts, freaks of nurture, freaks of nurture.com, President Richard Nixon widens the Vietnam war, protesting the Vietnam War, Robert McNamara, Vietnam War college draft deferments, Vietnam War draft lottery
Your probably going to read this and think that I’m some kind of vanity whore but I see it as a breakdown in the hairstyling industry, causing severe Brillo Padnian Disorder. Now that’s not an officially recognized medical affliction and, in fact, it comes completely from my imagination and yet it concisely explains the...
Tags: Daryl Hall hair gone bad, freakisn accounts, freaks of nurture, freaks of nurture.com, New York City, Porland Oregon in the '80's, trying to get Daryl Hall hair
This is a story I’ve not resisted in telling so much as having found myself unable to tell for a very long time now. It’s one of those junctures in life that struggles to be defined and, for the lack of explanation, defines itself as nothing more than tragedy. We always want clarity…a reason…a...
In the summer of 1973, preceding my senior year in college, I arranged a special sociological field work project to take place in and around Duluth, Minnesota. The topic of my research paper was the American Indian and the recent cultural clashes with U.S. authorities and, moreover, the current state of reservation affairs. For...
Tags: American Indian Movement, Chippewa tribe, Duluth Minnesota, freakish accounts, freaks of nurture, freaks of nurture.com, Sioux Nation, socialogical field trip during college, Wounded Knee 1973
Coming back to work after a vacation is always somewhat challenging. It takes some time to reacquaint ourselves with the work that is going on, and it can be difficult to get back into the frame of where we were, and where we need to go.
What isn’t difficult, however, is working our brains back into groove around solving problems. I love deducing potential solves to all manner of situations, and find it enjoyable to toss out ideas, thoughts, and theories, even if they end up being wrong or not quite fully developed.
As far as I am concerned, if a half-baked idea leads to someone cultivating a fully baked one, then I am doing my job of helping others further grow their own thinking.
That happened a few times today over a series of meetings, and it was an enjoyable return back to the office to be able to do this kind of work. Sometimes, I find that my work schedule leaves me with too few opportunities to listen, ask questions, and put together ideas. Sometimes, I am so deeply focused on important tasks that I miss the importance of idea generation.