Delphi: Know Thyself

Delphi emerges as a Panhellenic sanctuary around 650 BCE but it started earlier, much earlier. Inscribed on the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo was the threshold admonition: γνῶθι σεαυτόν, gnōthi seauton, know thyself. It was never therapeutic advice. It does not mean discover your preferences or honor your feelings. It means: know what kindContinue reading “Delphi: Know Thyself”

Thanksgiving as Strategy

Because they were educated on the West Coast, my children were taught next to nothing about the original colonies beyond the reductionist claim that the Pilgrims were “colonizers,” a word now used less as description than as accusation.[1] They learned to dismiss the charming saccharine gloss of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with knowing irony, andContinue reading “Thanksgiving as Strategy”

Taft / Messinger Lineage

Daniel Edwards Messinger married Eliza Carter Nichols on October 31, 1848. They lived in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, before becoming members of Adin Ballou’s “Hopedale Community” (the dale of hope) in 1852. Their placement in the Messinger line and their connection to Uxbridge and Hopedale are documented in The Descendants of Henry Messinger of Boston, 1637 (privatelyContinue reading “Taft / Messinger Lineage”