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A friend left her copy of Scientific American Mind at the house last night, and this months issue is about, well, love. Being February and all the eggheads at S/A wanted to put love under a microscope. The articles contain all sorts of data about what it takes to fall in love and maintain love. Turns out eye contact is important, for instance, and something called secret swapping and unified breathing experiments (which explains why I have a crush on everybody in my yoga class). But most interesting to me was the article on the characteristics of married couples who stay together long-term. What’s the main characteristic? It’s positivity. I spoke this past weekend at a mens conference with Bill Perkins. After the conference, Bill introduced me to his wife of some twenty years. Dr. John Sowers was there and asked what the secret to a happy marriage was, and Bill confessed that when they got married they were fairly naive, but he did say that the dominant thing he wanted in a mate was a positive attitude. Actually, the way Bill said it was “I didn’t want to be married to a melancholic” (I thought he meant a girl [...]

I was saddened to hear about the passing of Howard Zinn. He was a remarkable man, a remarkable historian and a remarkable advocate for neglected people everywhere. Perhaps best known for his book A People’s History of the United States, Howard saw this country not through the eyes of its leaders but through the eyes of slaves, peasant farmers, textile workers, teachers, bus drivers and average people like you and me. Shortly after 9/11, Mr. Zinn spoke at Reed College. The event hall was filled, of course, and the then seventy-something man came to the podium in his kaki pants and sweater and spoke, without notes for some two hours. And then he took questions. And the time passed like a few minutes. He didn’t just write history books, he was a history book. After the event, at perhaps 11PM Pacific, Zinn was mobbed by students in the lobby. I made my way into the crowd to see him sitting on a bench in the foyer, students already sitting at his feet. I wanted to talk to him too, but there were too many people. My friends and I left Reed and decided to get something to eat. We talked [...]