Provisional Truths

My aunt Jeanie died yesterday. Jeanie was the eldest of three sisters born to my maternal grandparents, John and Elsie Norman. Jeanie, her husband Wes, and her sons, Chip and Tad, lived two doors up College Street from our home. Our grandparents lived another block up; a veritable hop, skip Continue Reading

Lucky Charms, Froot Loops Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Puffs, Trix Cereal Killers

My daughter visited recently and since it was early February we decided to watch ‘Groundhog Day’ in honor of the season. After the movie – which still holds up remarkably well – we talked about what it is about the film that we most enjoy. We decided that beyond the Continue Reading

I recently had the opportunity to relive a fly-fishing adventure I greatly enjoyed years ago on the Kenai River in Alaska. For those who are not familiar with the Kenai River, it is perhaps the single best rainbow trout and salmon fishery anywhere in the world. Before succumbing to a Continue Reading

Once there was a peaceful little valley. The valley was nestled between two ridges on which grew tall stands of spruce, pine and aspen. Rushing along the bottom of the valley was a cold, clear, noisy little creek filled with lively fish. Between the noisy creek and the green ridges Continue Reading

We celebrated our nation’s independence recently and it got me thinking about patriotism. Patriotism is a word that means different things to different people, so I want to make it clear this is just my interpretation. And since all good definitions are both inclusive and exclusive, I will begin with what I believe patriotism is not. Patriotism is not breast Continue Reading

In his famous arrow paradox, the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (490 – 430 BCE) stated the obvious; for motion to occur, an object must change the position it occupies in space. Using the example of an arrow in flight, he further observed that at any instant in time, the Continue Reading

Most of my elementary schooling was spent at St. Joseph’s Catholic School under the direction of Sister Mary Irene. In sixth grade, we were assigned to write a theme about something that interested us. The theme was to be written in the form of an informational/educational letter directed to Sister Continue Reading

I write this from the deck of a lovely Colorado mountain home. I am gazing at a rustic wooden foot bridge a few yards away. The bridge spans a gin-clear creek filled with native brown and the occasional rainbow and brook trout. The noisy little creek spills down the mountain Continue Reading

When Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was published in 1974 it became an instant sensation. By the time of author Robert M. Pirsig’s death in 2017, his book had been translated into dozens of languages with worldwide sales that exceeded 5 million copies. In the opinion of many Continue Reading

The following eulogy for my father was delivered at his funeral in May, 2003. What can I say about Dad that someone hasn’t screamed at the top of their lungs at some point? He certainly inspired passion. Mick Rupp was many things, but above all he was an original. There was nothing derivative Continue Reading

It was early June and spontaneous combustion had already become a legitimate health concern in Phoenix. Following the diaspora north, my wife and I decided to visit the mountains of Colorado. It was all going splendidly until she realized that she had not brought enough of her Flovent (fluticasone) inhaler. Continue Reading

The dictionary defines tenure as “a status granted to a teacher after a trial period that gives protection from summary dismissal.” Full disclosure: I have been tenured most of my 30-year career in academia. As a faculty member in a science-based program one might assume I would have few reasons Continue Reading

I woke this morning to a still undecided 2020 presidential election. Depressed and discouraged, I decided a hike might cheer me up so I pulled on my boots and set out. The trail above my home was unusually devoid of hikers as I made my way to the pinnacle and Continue Reading

I teach an elective course called “Thinking Better: The Philosophy of Logical Reasoning.” At the end of the course, I provide students with the following reading list. I also use some of these readings to supplement the book we use in the course which is Premature Factulation: The Ignorance of Continue Reading

Growing up in Western Kansas, virtually every family vacation was to the Rocky Mountains, especially Colorado. Shortly after returning from WW-II, my father discovered a remote little valley in the mountains near Gunnison. Through this valley ran a crystal-clear creek loaded with rainbow, brown and the occasional brook trout. It Continue Reading

The following song was composed one evening after several beers. It was my entry into a Coronavirus song competition whose only requirement was that it had to mention the virus . . . which mine did . . . technically. A video of my one and only performance also exists, Continue Reading

I suspect the initial response most people will have to the questions posed in the title of this essay is a resolute “yes” and an adamant “of course!” Prior to the surreal experience that was the 2016 presidential election, I may have been inclined to agree. Now I’m not so Continue Reading

The following exchange occurred to me one morning while I was hiking the trail above my home with a headache. Please remember this is fiction . . . but then, all fiction is at least partly autobiographical, so there’s that . . . “I feel like crap today.”  “I’m not Continue Reading

Scarcely a week passes that some notable figure is not called out for rude, crude, lewd, boorish or otherwise offensive (albeit perhaps not illegal) behavior. In a growing number of these cases of celebrities behaving badly, the alleged conduct in question occurred years or even decades earlier, and a common Continue Reading

I did not ask to be born. I never signed up for any of this. If I had, I would look more like Paul Newman and less like Paul Giamatti. In fact, if I had been asked and fully informed of the consequences, I may well have declined. Instead, in Continue Reading

I almost skipped this topic because I have come to the conclusion that the existence of god(s) is so improbable and implausible that the question does not merit serious consideration by a rational person, so this will be brief. “Hi, I’m an evangelical Christian. I believe in heaven, hell, angels, Continue Reading

Okay, big picture, here is what I think . . . for now. There is no objective reality that exists independently of our thoughts about it. What is real and/or true is not a quality of propositions themselves, it is a quality of our subjective opinions about them. That is, Continue Reading

When I say there are no certain truths, I must admit to one exception and those are emotional truths which do not require or even allow for external validation. For example, at this moment in time I love my family, of that I am absolutely certain. Moreover, I think it Continue Reading

As I begin this blog, I am an aging academic with a wonderful wife and two independent and successful adult daughters, all of whom I love soooo much . . . they made me say that. I have spent most of my adult life in academia; initially as an undergraduate Continue Reading