Stories

Bedtime stories My next-door neighbor, Harry B, and I are not close friends, but we have a cozy relationship. Our wives don’t. We share a huge snow blower, some power tools and once in a while a drink at the neighborhood pub rather than in each other’s home. We are...

A walk in the woods near Vlaminck’s house Part 1 Colors, shapes, patterns, movement, is what we see. We have to put all that visual experience together to make what we see meaningful. A retinal image is meaningless without our input from our knowledge, past...

Mr. Rosenthal: A Werner story   These last months Werner and I are spending much of our time reminiscing. Yesterday I asked, “Werner, do you remember Mr. Rosenthal? I can see him clearly just as he appeared when he rang our doorbell. We must have been about 10.” We...

A bench in the gym locker room It was then and not now that I was the ‘youngest’ of 6 sitting on the wooden bench in the gym locker room. Time flies or is it that it stumbles along. After working out, the six of us would often gather on the bench in the last row of...

Bobby and other minds I don’t understand How do we go from looking and acting normal to losing one’s mind to the point where we can’t get back to that place, that other place, that most of us live in? Why, how, did what happen to our brain, that, rob us of our...

Roz: What matters (for Roz who as a small child lived hidden in an attic in Nazi occupied Prague) Everything matters  ......The sound of a siren....Getting louder .... Moving away..   Shouting from the street Far away.....Getting closer....Whispers.....Outside the...

The adventures of Alma Adults and children can be curious observers and investigators. We can all be investigators, engaged observers. We can nurture our curiosity, ask questions, try to answer them. We live in an amazing, exciting, stimulating world. The neurologist,...

We are all unique: A Noah’s Ark science story The dining room of the Ark was strangely quiet. Usually there is bedlam. For once, no food fights. Tonight, there was little laughter. A few of the animals did get up and danced to recorded music Medina’s song cycle. Like...

Mathematical knowledge revisited: A Noah’s Ark Science Story Noah wanted to make sure that Medina's knowledge was in good hands, that is, minds. He asked himself, ‘Could he count on math knowledge being stored properly in the noggins of the Ark’s animals?’ Noah didn’t...

Time on your hands and everywhere else: A Noah’s Ark Science Story: The animals remained in the dining room, munching on tonight's dessert, rhubarb pie. The Star Gazer, sitting near the German Land Lizard, commented on the pie. "I guess the chef does not believe in...