Recently, as I presented a casserole made for my grandmother out of a certain canned spare animal parts product, with love as only such a casserole could be made by a vegetarian, I sarcastically exclaimed, with my best French accent — which, according to my middle school French teacher, is pretty darn good — “here is my pièce de résistance!” Too often, we fail to engage with life because we think our actions will not be consequential. Lack of impact becomes conflated with mea

The safety of my home Is a luxury I may no longer Be able to experience Is a privilege that may soon be Lost to me forever. As I sit here I think That someday Someday soon It may all be lost. Lost to the greed and avarice Of others. Others who shall never know me. Others who shall never care for me As I leave my home Forever With no place to go. Nothing is secure And everything is irrelevant. Anything is possible. As I reflect upon My younger days Those days filled with hope

You haven’t heard a lot from me over the past year. I won’t bore you with excuses, except to let you know that I experienced a prolonged illness, was involved in two minor accidents, continued working two to three jobs, provided extra support for my family, and finally finished my most recent book, Whole Happy and Healthy. Now that this difficult year has passed, I must turn my attention to the topic that I have been avoiding for more than six years: my dissertation topic. My