On the long drive to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, I read a book that made the time pass quickly: Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (author of Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference). For those who don’t know Gladwell’s work, he is a journalist who takes a big idea and then illustrates it with interesting stories. In the case of Outliers, the idea is that our assumptions about successful people are all wrong. Instead of asking what they are like (how brilliant they are or how hard they worked), we should ask where they are from. No one makes it alone, Gladwell argues. The successful are often smart and hardworking, but [...]

Last night I read in the Duke alumni magazine that the rise in asthma rates during the last 25 years may have been caused by the folic acid that pregnant women have been taking in their prenatal vitamins. Have I mentioned that my daughter has asthma and possibly my son? And I was one of those dutiful expectant moms who never missed a vitamin. So instead of being able to feel a little righteous indignation that the asthma and our high pharmacy costs were just caused by pollution, now I feel a more complicated mix of emotions, especially after reading that folic acid was added to prenatal vitamins to prevent birth defects, which my children don’t have, thankfully. The possible side effects of folic acid [...]

Between the Phillies winning the World Series and Barack Obama winning the presidency, Philadelphians have been walking around in a mild euphoria. Strangers smile on the street. Supermarket cashiers seem happy. Or at least they did last week. This week the hard realities of the world are creeping back into our consciousness. The Inquirer ran a story Saturday about racist incidents on college campuses since the election, and Mayor Michael Nutter has announced wide-ranging budget cuts that will hit firehouses, libraries, city pools, and services like snow plowing and leaf collection.Of course most people are focusing on the things that will affect their neighborhood (Our library is safe, but our narrow streets won’t be if they’re not plowed.). But last night I received an email [...]

The 39 comments and 179 responses that C. Wess Daniels got to his recent survey made me appreciate what a dynamic forum the web can be. It’s prompted me to ask for your feedback this week, instead of just spouting my own numerous opinions.First, the big excitement here this week is that I have received a draft cover of my book, even though it won’t be out until next fall! I love the design the publisher came up with, especially since the book begins with a story about Irish fishermen and ends with a water analogy. I’m posting it here to ask your feedback on the subtitle which the publisher assigned it, to ask if this speaks to you or if you have any better [...]

I hate to exclude my non-Quaker readers, but over on Gathering In Light there is a poll of how American Quakers from different branches voted in this election. For those who don't know our history, Quakers have had their share of theological splits, and this is an attempt to see how they have affected our politics. I'll link to the results here when they become available. In the meantime, Friends, the poll is open until Monday.

In 1994 Nadine Gordimer (the Nobel prize winning South African novelist) wrote an essay about South Africa’s first democratic election entitled “A Beautiful Day, Com,” describing the comaraderie that existed in the long lines as black people waited to cast their first votes, and whites like Gordimer worked the polls in support. The “Com” in the title refers not to a type of domain name, but to the term “comrade,” an affectionate term of address among many South Africans. While no one in Philadelphia was calling each other comrade—despite the McCain campaign’s attempts to convince voters that Obama is a socialist—it certainly is a beautiful day, despite a little rain. It is not the first time black Americans could vote for president, but there is [...]

Martin K has had a few interesting posts lately about the mixing of Quakerism and politics. The quotes from nineteenth-century Friends make for an interesting juxtaposition with twenty-first century Friends Twittering during the debates. I haven’t caught up to the Twitter phenomenon myself yet, but I know enough to suspect it’s a sign of how different our world is from that of those Friends who tried so hard to separate themselves from it. Yet, a few things haven’t changed. There is still a considerable gap between our ideals and the values of our culture. For instance, there is no one left in the race who opposes all war, and it is unlikely that the United States will elect someone who takes that position in my [...]

Last week I enjoyed three days of quiet, a rare luxury for a parent. Even more unusual, I had no access to email or the Internet, so whatever David Brooks and Maureen Dowd had to say about the candidates, I missed it. I also missed the ups and downs of the stock market. I didn’t even see the last presidential debate (though I confess I turned on the radio for a few minutes). More difficult, I missed my children, both of whom had colds, which for one can sometimes turn to asthma, so my departure was laden with some guilt. But I have a great husband who believes in spiritual retreats and who had the week off between jobs, so he went away Sunday through [...]

Lately I’ve been feeling annoyed with my children for not being grateful for all they have. I’m pretty sure that I can’t force them to be appreciative and that it’s not helpful to lecture them on the children I taught when I was in the Peace Corps in Africa (“They were lucky to have one pencil, let alone buy three new packs every school year!”) Still, figuring out how to respond isn’t always clear.I suppose this is on my mind because we just spent a ridiculous amount of money going to Six Flags as an extremely belated birthday present. The child in question had originally wanted an expensive electronic devise. My husband and I agreed that we didn’t want to buy something most likely to [...]