77% Weekly

*Seeking Eureka* It’s Monday as I write this. (Last Monday, from the perspective of you reading this.) And I don’t know what I’m going to write today! Nothing my kids did recently is calling out to be told as a story with a moral. And usually over the weekend, something has popped into my mind, […]

“Hey, Martha.” Less I’m on the phone catching up with someone. Anyone. The conversation agenda goes according to a set outline: Introductions: Greetings and “how-are-you”s Round 1: A few “Hey, Martha”s Round 2: Respective reports on health and activities of self and loved ones Round 3: Recommendations of some shows to watch or books to

    For more than 10 years, this newsletter, The 77% Weekly, has issued a “non-issue” on the last Monday of the month. (It is both humbling and electrifying to know that many people have been reading my words for even half that long.) Last week, even though it was the last Monday of the

  All Lives Matter? Friday, August 28. Afternoon.     I’m sitting at my desk, deftly switching between my emails and the program that allows me to send and receive text messages on behalf of a political party I want to aid to win the 2020 election. I look at the clock. I have only

  All Lives Matter? Friday, August 28. Afternoon.     I’m sitting at my desk, deftly switching between my emails and the program that allows me to send and receive text messages on behalf of a political party I want to aid to win the 2020 election. I look at the clock. I have only

Learning, Kindness, and the French Horn       Me, learning “Brian, do you know what you did well there?” Jen perennially begins questions with my name. “No, Jen,” I reply, playfully, into the zoom camera in my office. Rhetorical questions amuse me. “Well, Brian, you have an intuitive sense of phrasing.” I think back

ANXIETY. NOT SO BAD?   Notes: This material is based on an interview I conducted with Brent Lyons, a PhD candidate at Oxford University studying the intersection of anxiety and religion While this technique provides an intellectual understanding of anxiety that can help some people, it’s not proven effective for all anxieties. Please seek professional

“I’m proud of you. You are taking two whole nights away, just for yourself,” I hear Larry say. I re-tuck the microphone of my headset into my facemask to muffle the wind for when I talk. “Larry, it’s more that they sent me. Is that better? Can you hear me better now?” It’s nice to

July 27, 2020   7:25pm   “Because a good number of healthcare workers and moms I know recommend double masking,” Jane explains as she writes 971-247-2072 on my right arm—should I need the National Lawyers Guild to bail me out.   Accordingly, I put a disposable paper mask one in my pocket for when I’m

Author’s Note “You can’t send this out,” Jane said at the kitchen table, reading as I drank my smoothie this morning. The hours and words I thought you were going to read, now that she’s saved me from a very likely error in judgment, gone. “I was afraid of that,” I said. I re-prioritize the semi-monthly, semi-personalized