Cartoon by Erik Bergstrom
Still, as Beth Blum has pointed out in âThe Self-Help Compulsionâ (2020), reading books for life advice is an ancient practice. Aristotleâs âNicomachean Ethicsâ can be read as a guide to virtuous living. (Like many of McHughâs writers, Aristotle was only summing up the characteristics of people generally counted as virtuous in his time and placeâthat is, the eastern Mediterranean in the fourth century B.C. You want to be thought virtuous? Be like them.) Blum calls Boethiusâ âThe Consolation of Philosophy,â which was written in the sixth century, âbibliotherapy
avant la lettre,â an idea that Alain de Botton, the leading contemporary bibliotherapist, acknowledges in the title of his 2000 book, âThe Consolations of Philosophy.â People donât generally describe the Bible as a how-to book, but it partly isâas is the Quran.
It might be time to brush up on your manners and social skills as we slowly move into a post-pandemic world. Some people say those are feeling a little rusty.
Bars Are For Adults, Not Children (and How to Tell If Your Kids Are Welcome)
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Photo: Natalia Deriabina, Shutterstock
Imagine sitting on a barstool, with kids kindergarten age and younger darting across the floor, screaming for their parents, and generally posing a liability for any inebriated adult who might have the misfortune of colliding with one of these tiny people. Suffice it to say, I have an axe to grind against parents who bring their small children to bars.
This is a facet of pre-COVID life that I am loathe to see return. The pandemic is in retreat here in the U.S., which is fantastic news for parents, children, and bristly 31-year-old hipsters like me. So, as we more frequently find ourselves at watering holes where the legal limit for entry is 21-years-old and no food other than bags of chips are to be found, I am begging young parents to leave their children elsewhere.
Hereâs a salute to all of the mothers out there, living and departed, who exemplified the qualities of motherhood.
This past year weâve said final farewells to amazing Kodiak women who also were fantastic mothers. Weâve also had mothers who bid farewell to their children. The hardship and grief they suffered â realizing that their child would no longer call them âmomâ â is a reflection of the deep love they had for their children.Â
Kathryn Chichenoff, who died last winter, and her husband, the late Sonny Chichenoff, sadly said that final farewell to their daughter Lori Ogle several years ago.