I recently had the opportunity to invite a friend and her grandchildren to a local fair. I’ve been going to the event for years and like the predictability and tradition; plus it supports a good cause. The carousel is always in front of the big house, the face painting under the elms, and you can count on the stampede to the rummage sale and vintage clothing tent. There is something remarkably calm about the entire experience and the kids, young and old, love it. [Read more…]

Atul Gawande is an accomplished scholar (Mac Arthur Fellow), a staff writer for The New Yorker, and a Harvard professor, in addition to being a well-respected surgeon. He is also an astute observer with a curious mind. In the world of surgery, infection kills more people than the operations. Gawande thought there must be a way to increase survival rates. He stumbled on the effectiveness of the checklist, not a to-do list, but a step-by step form that is brief and effective even under the most critical situations. [Read more…]

“Liars, Bigger Liars and d’em that figure.” An uncle often used this expression when knocking politicians and accountants. This week his words resonated with me as it seems everyone is accusing everyone else of either not telling the truth or lying by omission. The political debate is more about denying what is not true than defending it. Wall Streeters and their customers are accusing financial leaders of painting a rosy picture based more on hope than fact. And of course there are always a few celebrities using or doing something totally addictive and illegal, denying to magazines where fact checking is a part-time distraction, that anything is wrong. [Read more…]

I was struck by the “Editor’s Letter” in February’s Vanity Fair. Graydon Carter wrote about the temperaments and actions of two modern day presidents. It made me think.

According to Carter when Bill Clinton plays golf he takes a high number of mulligans and often hits two balls for every shot, accepting the best lie as his own. He supposedly has a generous view of the line in tennis. George W is known for refusing to lose. When it was clear the game was not going his way he’d insist on changing a best of two tennis matches to best of three. As a child he had to be physically taken off the golf course because of his cursing and acting out when the shots weren’t going his way. Do any of us really change? Want to read the entire piece? Go to Vanity Fair. [Read more…]