Embracing Our New Normal | Hope and Resilience versus Safetyism
Hope and Resilience versus Safetyism Recently, I was introduced to a new concept that caught my attention as I’ve been watching society around me react to the “new normal.” The construct is called “safetyism.” Much like many ‘isms’, it embodies a frame of thought that fuels anxiety and fear. Safety is generally thought to bring goodness and health, but in an extreme form, safety becomes safetyism. The concept was initially defined by Lukianoff and Haidt in 2018 in their book entitled The Coddling of the American Mind. They define safetyism as a culture or belief system in which safety has become a sacred value, which means that people become unwilling […]
Greatest Generation – First Person Account | Into the Water
This is Part Two of a first person account of the sinking of the USS Block Island (CVE-21), a “baby flattop” aircraft carrier, by a German U-boat in the battle of the Atlantic during World War II. Part One described Warren’s duties as Navy Communications Officer, and ended with the first 2 torpedoes to hit the Block Island. Warren was relaxing in his living quarters, at night, when, in his own words … BOOM, and then another BOOM! We hot-footed it out of there and up the ladders to our battle stations. Halfway to the Communications Office, the clanging sound of “general quarters” reverberated throughout the ship. I had been […]
Lessons From Nature: The Ocean
Oh, how I long to visit the beach, but with the current state of pandemic, the beach is not on my summer calendar. That, however, doesn’t stop me from reflecting on a trip to the beach that I took while in graduate school a decade ago. On one trip in particular, I made some notes about a profound experience. As summer draws to an end, and as I long for the sound of the waves and the cooling water, I reflect back on that poignant evening, one spent standing in the ocean as the bold red sun dipped below the beach front properties as it escaped westward to continue its […]
First Friday Art Walks | Charleston Galleries are Therapeutic
In the French Quarter of Historic Charleston, there are dozens of independent art galleries. Photographic oil paintings of the low country marsh are popular, and one can find plenty of impressionistic style acrylic pieces of the historic buildings. The galleries showcase artists of extraordinary talent and skill, and Charleston knows how to spotlight this by supporting a First Friday Art Walk. In 1995, there were 25 galleries that participated in this venture; 25 years later the walk has extended to King Street and beyond with 40 galleries that open to the public. At 5:00 pm, as other shops start to close for the evening, art lovers, tourists, and college students […]
