Dear New School Friends:

I’m spending much of the summer on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. Here are some notes about how life and the world look to me right now.

First, life. My 75th year offers opportunities for reflection. I care about what I am reading, what I am writing, and how I am spending these precious years.

Right now I am reading: Quaker Faith and Practice from the British Quakers, a remarkable compendium of over 350 years of faith and practice of their community. Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life, by the eminent British scholar Edith Hall, the first woman to win the Erasmus Medal of the European Academy. MFK Fisher’s delicious compendium The Art of Eating, which includes “How to Cook a Wolf.” This I owe to my wife Sharyle Patton, an extraordinary cook and reader of cookbooks. Continue reading →