When I was in college, getting ready to spend my junior year abroad, I consulted with my friend Tobin who had spent the year before at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. He advised me to get a backpack with an internal frame and a small bag to carry my stuff. Further, this was all I should bring. I had NO idea what he meant. I set off for Denmark and, later, Belgium with a satchel that was too big, an extra-large duffle bag, and a large suitcase designed during a time before rolling wheels on suitcases were standard. I thought I’d gotten pretty close and my luggage choice was fine…

My father collects elephants. On top of the bookcases in his living room is a row of carved elephants marching, in single-file. I was nine when he bought the first elephant that I remember. It is a large, teak statue and it is still a piece of beauty. I remember listening to him discuss it with my mom in the Field Museum’s gift shop and, then, riding home with it in the back seat of our gold station wagon, excited about our first major art purchase. Since then, I have always associated elephants with my dad. They are intelligent and strong, characteristics which I assumed resonated with him and led…

I don’t video well. Hence, a blog. I like to write but, like everyone else in the world, I find that time is a scarce resource and unless it is required, I don’t make the time to write.  I spend time with family and friends, I travel, I eat, I work, but I don’t write. An off-handed comment I made about an earlier suggestion that I start a blog led to my being challenged to follow through on it. After thinking about it for several weeks, but not really doing anything to start it, my students (who were looking for ways to avoid researching for their final project) suggested that…