77% Weekly

The Embrace of Two Friends Laurence C. Keene   I have two friends who just happen to be friends with each other as well. Amy and Stephanie have been friends for many years but while they agree on many things they do not agree on matters of religion and politics. Their effort at trying to […]

Last week, the non-newsletter usually sent the last Monday of the month didn’t go out as planned. Coincidentally, last Monday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, a day, according to Leviticus 23:27, which is supposed to be a day of strict rest. I fast, as is traditional. (Although I do drink

*Running out* Toilet paper. At the start of the pandemic, there was a run on the stuff. Off all shelves. Out of stores. Throughout the land. I never worried about it. And there was no need to worry. I don’t know of anyone who ran out. Peopleshared what they had until supplies were replenished. And

*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