In my graduate school days, C. Wright Mills was a giant. He was the sociologist who challenged the status quo. The Power Elite rattled cages. I loved his distinction between “personal troubles” and “public issues.” I look back now and wonder how it was that my doctoral dissertation landed so far from public issues. Somehow, I managed to write a dissertation which dealt only with a methodological problem. It is not much of an exaggeration to say that I managed to write 300-plu

What should we do with our anger? It depends on what we mean when we say “anger.” It’s one of those words that cause a lot of confusion. Are we talking about a feeling? Or are we referring to our expression of that feeling? It helps to know what we’re talking about. I learned something new about my anger in Portugal. Dee and I were on a cruise on the Douro River in Portugal, tours everyday through the beautiful wine country, learning lots of Portuguese history, all pretty n

There are intoxicants other than alcohol and drugs, other ways of dulling our minds, of trying to contain our stress. Wine is not my only intoxicant. There’s also my phone games, Wordle and sudoku and something called “Zen Word.” I’ve been telling myself that these are harmless “tools” to break the tension and give my mind a rest. Recently, I started telling myself that they have additional health benefits: they ward off dementia. My gaming increased when my neurologist start