An Occasional Thought or Photo

I began reading Virgil's The Aeneid this weekend, Robert Fagles' translation.  Somehow I escaped both high school and college without reading this.  My knowledge of Virgil came from a few Virgil's in my schools in small town Louisiana and Oklahoma, not to mention a Virgil at work in our credit department.  Seriously, I only knew of Virgil through Dante's depiction as his guide through Inferno and Purgatory.  It was time to read the real deal, albeit a translated Virgil. The quotes below stood out in my reading of Book One: Safe Haven After the Storm. On leadership: Just as, all too often, some huge crowd is seized by a vast uprising, the rabble runs amok, ... but then, if they chance to see a man among them, one whose devotion and public service lend him weight, they stand there, stock-still with their ears alert as he rules their furor with his words and calms their passion. (1.174-181) Brave words.  Sick with mounting cares he assumes a look of ...

Midway along the journey of our life I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. I first read this opening sentence of  The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri when I was 19 with the first book in the Comedy, Inferno , an assignment in my Western Civ class.  The work was characterized by my professor as the 13th Century Synthesis, an encapsulation of the political and theological worldview of the day.  We read it (or the Cliff Notes) to understand the dynamics of Florentine politics, the intrigue surrounding the papacy, and the medieval man's view of the universe.   I reread all three books in the Comedy a few years ago and was shocked.  How much different do those first lines seem now that I am past "midway along the journey of our life."  With a retrospective lens  not possessed by a college student, I am now able include myself within the Pilgrim's journey ...

Published in The News-Gazette , page F-6, Sunday, March 24, 2013, as a reader-submitted travel article.  A view of White Lake near Montague, Mich., last fall. Mid-October might not be everyone’s choice for a trip to the lake shore, but for us it was ideal.   Montague, Michigan is only five hours north of Champaign, in an area known as West Michigan, not Western Michigan.   The timing was slightly past fall peak, but colors were still abundant.   The crowds were not.   For three mid-week days, we had the area largely to ourselves. Our base was the Weathervane Inn in Montague.   The Inn overlooked beautiful White Lake, an inlet from Lake Michigan, home to migratory egrets, herons, and even wild swans.   Our daughter found a great discount coupon to make already affordable accommodations a sweet deal.    The Weathervane Inn in Montague overlooking White Lake.  After exploring the town, we headed to dinner at the Old Channel Inn, jus...