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Elizabeth Bishop’s memorial service opened with a reflection by her partner Alice — whose near-loss inspired one of the greatest poems ever written — that included what Elizabeth had always told her was “the only sensible advice she ever heard,” from a man she never met — one of her two favorite authors. Sydney Smith…

Homelessness makes us think of the severe physical hardships that precede and follow it. Its impact on psychological and social dimensions of life calls for our attention too.

Note-taking by hand fosters better learning and is an important physical therapy to nurture for a lifetime of aging dexterity.

At its best, sport creates a shared emotional language that helps people connect across difference, identity, and place.

Personal Perspective: Constant connection does not always create closeness. Sitting together, staying present, and making conversation may help restore a sense of belonging.

Personal Perspective: For six long years, my children suffered from frightening psychiatric symptoms that resisted treatment. When a surprising diagnosis led to their rapid recovery, I dared to wonder if I could finally heal as well.

“To be thin-skinned is to feel keenly, to perceive things that might go unseen, unnoticed, that others might prefer not to notice.” Yes, we spend our lives trying to discern where we end and the rest of the world begins. The boundary is so difficult to discern because, when all the stories fall away, there…

“Our everyday experience does not prepare us to assimilate the gaping hugeness of the Grand Canyon or the crashing grandeur of Niagara Falls. We have no response at the ready; our usual frames of reference don’t fit.” “In the street and in society I am almost invariably cheap and dissipated, my life is unspeakably mean,”…

Bionics have long been part of science fiction (most famously the Six Million Dollar Man), the reality of prosthetics has mostly been disappointing. But, thanks to America’s endless wars and advances in technology, bionic prosthetics are real. There are, for example, replacement legs that replicate the functionality of the original organic versions quite well. There…