Yesterday, ABBA released their first new music in forty years: two singles from a forthcoming album. The first single, “I Still Have Faith in You,” features Frida on the lead. At 75, it is hardly surprising that her voice has deepened, and I don’t know what studio effects may have been added. But for the […]
mortality
The Last Visit with Dad
My dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease on a rainy afternoon in December 2017. Afterward, we went out for lunch to a restaurant downtown. Dad got confused and thought we were in Mexico. “Wow,” I joked, “It’s a lot cheaper to go on vacation when you have Alzheimer’s!” Gallows humor is a dark and welcome […]
Ungatz: How a Lucky atheist faces his mortality
“It’s all going to go away … into blackness, the void.” “And what do you do with that?” “What do we do with that?” “You smile…” Harry Dean Stanton was the quintessential actor’s actor and his last film is a fitting final act for a stellar career. (Stanton passed away on September 15, 2017 at the ripe old […]
Reading Glasses
For some years now I’ve had a front row seat to my own inevitable demise. It isn’t exactly an exciting show. (If it were, I probably wouldn’t be able to write this.) Often the show hangs on one grey hair winding its way into my chestnut mane at the leisurely rate of 1.5 cm per month. This past week, however, […]
Rage against the dying of the light: A New Year’s Wish
The aptly titled “Happy New Year” is one of my favorite ABBA songs. Agnetha waxes philosophical with a melancholy lament over the broken dreams of the past and the uncertainty of the future as (in the video at least) her estranged husband Bjorn stares off into the unknown. Seems to me now That the dreams we had before […]
In a New York minute everything can change
Two days ago I was enjoying Times Square (just a block away from my hotel) after an invigorating but exhausting day of meetings at Biologos. Crowded with passerby, honking taxis, street performers, and the iconic flashing neon and video screens, it felt like you were in the center of the world. A day later I […]
The creepiest birthday wish ever
I turned forty today. Too bad I live in a culture that celebrates youth rather than age. *** When I was a young boy I realized I had received a diagnosis for a terminal illness. It turned out that I suffer from human mortality syndrome (HMS). Although I feel fine at the moment my doctor reassures me […]
Existential reflections on the Clint Eastwood speech
In case you missed it, the Clint Eastwood speech at the Republican National Convention is all the rage today. Indeed, it appears to have overshadowed both Marco Rubio’s eloquent self-promotion and Mitt Romney’s capable acceptance speech. Here it is: Clint started off alright. The first minute and a half was not bad. But then it […]
The farewell tour for Glen Campbell, and for you and me
The other day I got in a fight with my wife. Not a serious fight like you might see in an academy award nominated drama starring Meryl Street. More like a fight you might see on a Tim Allen sitcom complete with laugh track. The fight arose when I played Glen Campbell’s immortal song “Galveston” […]
