Abram Van Engen, a professor of humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, once said in an interview that "What matters about poetry is which poems work for you… Not every poem will work for you. Keep pushing on until you find the poem that does work for you – when suddenly you read this turn of phrase in a poem and are moved or challenged or something really resonates.” I have been fortunate to be good friends since my early 20's with Douglas A. Sharp, I did not know he was a poet when I first met him at Texas A&M University in the basement of Nagle Hall, which housed some desks for graduate students in economics. He was sitting with his feet propped up on a desk reading the Lord of The Rings. Not long thereafter, Doug returned to his first love - mathematics - in which he earned his master's degree. Doug and I got together frequently, as we shared a great love for music. My recollection is that after I left Texas A&M in the fall of 1971 to go to …
Post 13 – Special Needs/Special Love
The Teacher and the Dragon By Douglas A. Sharp, from his book NIGHT BREEZES It’s fair to say you taught me. There are some things I’ve learned A gift that is freely given often cannot be earned. I’ve seen you take the world on With nothing but a grin And whenever that was not enough You’d take it on again. I watched you face the dragon That filled me full of fear I saw you climb onto its back And whisper in his ear. I saw the dragon look at you Much as I have done It seemed to me he smiled a bit Before he ambled on. I don’t know what he heard from you Or what it meant to him But there’s never been a dragon I have feared since then I indicated in Post 8 - Ashley and Henry, at 18 months my daughter, Ashley, lost use of her hands, her face became pale, and she quit vocalizing. She sat on the floor rocking in her own world and would not make eye contact. She had one screaming episode where she grabbed her head. Rett Syndrome is a developmental …
Post 12 – Art for the Hagler Institute For Advanced Study
One of my favorite quotes about art is by Alberto Giocometti, a 20th century Swiss sculptor and painter. He said, "The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity." One intense endeavor is the search for new knowledge. I never thought much about what kind of art would portray this search, but it "plopped in my lap", as the old saying goes. Three drawings now hang on a wall outside my office that capture the intensity of the quest for new knowledge. The art came from the A&M Foundation, that raises major donations and estate gifts for Texas A&M University. The drawings appeared in a feature story about the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study in the Foundation's magazine, Spirit. I have loved these pieces of art since I first saw them, and I want to share them with you in this post. They are best seen on a computer monitor. A little background is helpful. I am Associate Director of the Hagler Institute. The …
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Post 11 – Prior Posts and the Federal Debt
Hello to all. I hope you are enjoying my posts. I always welcome feedback. Here are couple of comments I want to make about prior posts. Regarding my post called Grief: When Mary Forest Engel shared her article about losing her son, the spacing in her writing was beautiful and consistent. When I reproduced her writing, that was not the case. I am still learning the program used to send out these posts. I am grateful to my cousin, Bob Loyd, for calling to my attention that the 67% growth in government spending during 2020 took place during President Trump’s administration, not President Biden’s. During President Biden’s first year, 2021, government spending declined by nearly 28% from the high point reached the previous year. Federal government spending increased by 9% during 2022. The key point made in Post 10 holds true. There is a well-documented connection between rapid money growth rates and inflation rates. We may see this connection …
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Post 10 – Inflation
“By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.” ---John Maynard Keynes “It is a way to take people’s wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes. Inflation is the most universal tax of all.” ---Thomas Sowell Prices are the exchange rates between money and goods and services. If rates of money growth exceed growth rates in the production of goods and services, prices will rise. Inflation refers to a persistent increase in prices. Inflation is caused by too rapid growth in the money supply. Since the Federal Reserve controls the money supply, inflation is caused by the Federal Reserve. When I was in graduate school in economics, this connection between inflation and too rapid growth in the new money was so theoretically and empirically well-documented by Milton Friedman and others that any student forgetting this relationship would have failed. Astoundingly, the current …
Post 9 – Grief
Grief has to be the least sought after aspect of this worldly experience, yet it hits us all. In A Grief Observed, the Christian writer C.S. Lewis documents his emotions and thoughts after the loss of his wife. The book documents his journey through his initial anger and grief to thankfulness for the time with his wife. My cousin and his wife lost their daughter in a car wreck when she was a junior in high school. I saw then that losing a child is the worst. In my last post, I told you about Ashley Fry and Henry Engel, and their unique positions in the Rett Syndrome community. Due to Richard Engel's presence on television, the public shared in the Engel's Rett Syndrome journey. Mary paid honor to this public by communicating her experience at the loss of Henry in document that is as emotionally charged as it is well written. I am sharing Mary's text with you. Grief is powerful when love is powerful. If you have not done so already, please first read the post about …