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Fostering the reflective spirit

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Debra Parmenter’s Northern Lights

Durango PlayFest’s Evolution

Flying

Three Jazz Standards–and a Smooth Finish

Welcome to Reflections Blog

Featured Posts

Debra Parmenter’s Northern Lights

April 30, 2023

Last February, we traveled to Churchill, Canada, to see the northern lights. Churchill is a very small town on the edge of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba. It lies directly beneath the polar vortex, which is the epicenter of northern lights activity where particles from the sun excite atoms in our atmosphere and create glowing…

Articifical Intelligence in the Search for Life Beyond Earth

April 20, 2023

Are we alone in the universe?  Until recently, many people thought so—the Earth is unique, they believed, and we are created in the image of a god who favors us, and life itself likely does not exist elsewhere.  We can see millions of stars in the night sky, but there probably aren’t more planets like…

Durango PlayFest’s Evolution

April 30, 2023

In June, Durango PlayFest (DPF) will launch its fifth season.  Although it is still a young playwrighting venue, DPF is rapidly emerging as a stellar workshop and showcase for veteran and emerging playwrights, directors, and actors.  The fifth season, which will debut for audiences on June 28, 2023, features another round of outstanding plays and actors.

Welcome to Reflections Blog

April 20, 2023

Photography

Debra Parmenter’s Northern Lights

April 30, 2023

Last February, we traveled to Churchill, Canada, to see the northern lights. Churchill is a very small town on the edge of Hudson Bay in northern Manitoba. It lies directly beneath the polar vortex, which is the epicenter of northern lights activity where particles from the sun excite atoms in our atmosphere and create glowing…

Michael Wooters Nature Photography

October 3, 2022

Photographer Michael Wooters has returned with another collection of nature photographs, including some magnificent shots from his hometown state, Montana.

Politics

Abortion Rights and State Religion

October 6, 2022

For years, as a physician who performed abortions, I feared the people of the religious right who have killed abortion providers. Criticizing their religious beliefs might be like throwing a rock at a hornet’s nest. Fortunately there seems to be less risk now that I’m retired. The pressing reason for breaking this silence, however, is the importance of recognizing the power of misogynistic religions.

Don’t Be Afraid to Use the “F” Word

October 4, 2022

No, I don’t mean that F word. No one these days seems afraid to use it. I mean this F word:  fascism. We have heard this word more often lately, mostly to describe the current state of the Republican Party after and under Donald Trump.  Is it accurate to describe Republicans like Trump, Boebert, Greene, Hawley, Cotton, Lee, and others as fascists?

America’s Most Vexing Issue

October 1, 2022

With its recent ruling on abortion, our conservatively stacked Supreme Court has poured gasoline on the flames of a culture war that began with Roe v. Wade and escalated after Donald Trump became president. Like many people who try to view the question of abortion with a clear lens, one not distorted by religious dogma or the liberal fervor of women’s rights advocates, I feel caught in the great divide between the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the debate.

Update: On the Inevitability of Social Liberalism

May 20, 2018

The progress toward social liberalism may have been impeded since Trump took office, but it is inevitable, despite those who oppose it.  Had Rush Limbaugh had been on the radio in 1918, we can imagine him loudly denouncing the women’s suffrage movement.  “Women should not be allowed to vote,” he might have argued, “because their role is in the home.  The fairer sex is concerned with children and local issues.  They don’t understand the loftier matters of state, government, war, or politics, nor should we ask them to.”  He would have been joined in his opposition by Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Laura Ingraham, and other firebrand conservatives who would use their media platforms to impede social progress.

By the Numbers

The Most Popular Desserts in America

Social Media by the Numbers

Heard through the Grapevine

Banned Books and Movies

Popular Misconceptions

Pop Quiz

DALL·E 2023-04-25 09.44.15 - A Manet-style painting of a small girl under a flowery trellis in a garden

Pop Quiz

Life Blog

7 Ways Small Businesses Can Improve the Health and Wellness of Communities

April 16, 2023

Every day, small businesses across the country are doing their part to improve the health and wellness of their communities. From supporting local charities to creating jobs that support families, small businesses play an integral role in ensuring that our neighborhoods are healthy, vibrant spaces for all. Reflections.blog invites you to take a look at…

The Top 6 Benefits of Downsizing Your Home

January 6, 2023

For many of us, our homes are our castles. They’re a refuge from the outside world, a place where we can relax and be ourselves. But what happens when your home starts to feel more like a prison than a sanctuary? When the idea of cleaning one more room sends you into a panic attack? That’s when it might be time to consider downsizing.

Abortion Rights and State Religion

October 6, 2022

For years, as a physician who performed abortions, I feared the people of the religious right who have killed abortion providers. Criticizing their religious beliefs might be like throwing a rock at a hornet’s nest. Fortunately there seems to be less risk now that I’m retired. The pressing reason for breaking this silence, however, is the importance of recognizing the power of misogynistic religions.

Barbara Karnes and The Grief Experience

January 6, 2023

If you are experiencing grief (as we all will at some point), I would recommend Barbara Karnes’ pamphlets.  They are simple, practical, short, and easily digestible.  Reading them feels like talking to an old friend or a wise counselor who offers heartfelt advice—but not more of it than you want or need.

1,500 People Killed in Attack on Hawaii

October 5, 2022

This stunning proclamation was the headline on the front page of the December 8, 1941, edition of the Pueblo Star-Journal. I inherited the old newspaper from my wife, who discovered it in a collection of piano music her mother left her. The Star-Journal was far larger than today’s newsprint. At more than 16 inches wide and 23 inches tall, the yellowed, tattered paper impresses more like a billboard than a daily newspaper. Its bold headlines command attention, not merely inviting you to read the stories below but virtually insisting that you do.

Reflections on the Premature Death of Ellika Larsdotter

October 2, 2022

Ellika Larsdotter was born on April 25, 1703 in Nysund, Sweden, a small farming community.  Most of the details of her life have been lost to history, but it is likely she lived all of her life in Nysund.  If she travelled at all, it would probably have been within Orebro, the county where Nysund…

My Evil Washing Machine

October 1, 2022

I noticed something disconcerting several months ago after doing my wash and putting my wet underwear in the dryer.  Nearly every pair of underwear was turned inside out when I removed them from the dryer.  I wasn’t counting how many were turned inside out; I just became aware that most were not right-side out, as I would have swore they were before I washed them. 

Visions

Flying

April 25, 2023

For most of us, flying over forested cliffs and swooping over the shore is deeply mesmerizing.  I could watch this video all day, imagining the sights, sounds, and smells of the ocean and the shore, feeling the air whipping past and the warmth of the sun on my skin.  The freedom and exhilaration of flight is something we dream of when we see an eagle or an osprey soaring over a valley.  Alas, we are Earthbound and too heavy to take flight, but we can still imagine.

Video credit:  mixkit-flying-by-drone-over-a-sunny-peninsula-44403-medium

Art

Three Jazz Standards–and a Smooth Finish

April 24, 2023

Jazz is an American art form that has influenced music worldwide for over a century. Jazz has its roots in Western musical structure and African rhythms, particularly in the “call and response” musical form born in the Mississippi Delta.  As jazz has evolved, it is characterized by swing tempos, blues notes, complex chord progressions, polyrhythms, and, most importantly, improvisation.

Durango PlayFest’s 4th Exciting Season

October 1, 2022

Durango PlayFest is a week-long, annual play development festival where both established and up-and-coming playwrights workshop new plays with seasoned directors and actors before presenting staged readings to see how live audiences react to their plays.  This year we were privileged to see plays by Richard Dresser, Dan Lauria, Lia Romeo, and Blossom Johnson.  The…

Durango PlayFest’s Evolution

April 30, 2023

In June, Durango PlayFest (DPF) will launch its fifth season.  Although it is still a young playwrighting venue, DPF is rapidly emerging as a stellar workshop and showcase for veteran and emerging playwrights, directors, and actors.  The fifth season, which will debut for audiences on June 28, 2023, features another round of outstanding plays and actors.

Science

Articifical Intelligence in the Search for Life Beyond Earth

April 20, 2023

Are we alone in the universe?  Until recently, many people thought so—the Earth is unique, they believed, and we are created in the image of a god who favors us, and life itself likely does not exist elsewhere.  We can see millions of stars in the night sky, but there probably aren’t more planets like…

A Planet Blacker Than Coal

January 6, 2023

Imagine a planet so black that it would appear to be a hole in the sky.  If you were approaching TRes-2b in a spaceship, you would see nothing until you were able to discern faint red cracks in the eerie deep black of a hot gas ball one-and-a-half times the size of Jupiter.  If you were foolish to fly closer still, you would see that those red cracks are glowing and undulating as they traverse the planet.  In an atmosphere as hot as lava, storms whip across this planet at unimaginable speeds.

Images from the Webb: The Cartwheel Galaxy

September 30, 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope is a significant advance in our ability to discern details about the universe that even the Hubble Telescope was unable to render.  The Webb, which is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, records light in the infrared part of the spectrum, so it…

Can Science Be Trusted?

March 1, 2020

Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic philosopher and the last of Rome’s Five Good Emperors.  He reigned from 161 to 180 and is known for his Meditations, a philosophical treatise in which he wrote, “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.  Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”  Science as we know…

Covid-19: Beating the Odds

October 1, 2022

Forty thousand Americans died of Covid this summer.  That’s an astonishing number for a disease most Americans believe is behind us, for a pandemic we wish is more past than present.  We’ve become lax in our hand washing and mask wearing and avoidance of crowds.  We’re traveling again, in greater numbers, gathering on beaches and…

Debra Parmenter Photography

Debra Parmenter is a professional photographer residing in Colorado and Hawaii. A Colorado native, she has spent much of her life surrounded by nature’s beauty. She uses a Canon 5D, a macro lens, and natural light to capture the patterns, textures, and hues of her subjects. Her floral photography highlights the elegance and majesty of nature’s most beautiful creations. Her wildlife and landscape photos—from places as diverse as Scotland, Bhutan, the Serengeti in Tanzania, and the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda—captures the natural beauty of our planet and the fierce beauty of creatures native to it. Here are ten photos of Great Horned Owls that she captured in southwestern Colorado. You can see more of her photography at www.debra.photos or www.debra.photography.

The Power Plant

The Power Plant is about power and influence, a subject I’ve been studying for more than thirty years.   Influence is the art of getting others to take your lead—to believe something you want them to believe, think in a way you want them to think, or do something you want them to do.  And you cannot influence others without a source of power like knowledge or reputation.  Power is the battery, and influence is the engine.  Despots coerce, managers control, but leaders—true leaders—influence.  My books on this subject are showcased below, followed by blogs with articles on power and influence and research reports with interesting highlights.  For more, see www.powerandinfluence.online.

Power and Influence

The Fifth Law of Influence

October 3, 2022

The fifth law of influence is that ethical influence is consensual and often bilateral. Every act of influence is an attempt to persuade another to agree with you or go along with what you want.  But some influencers don’t want to take “no” for an answer, so they resort to various forms of threats, intimidation, or manipulation to impose their will on others.  By anyone’s definition of right and wrong, these means of influence are unethical.

The Fourth Law of Influence

October 2, 2022

The fourth law of influence is that influence is cultural. To influence cross-culturally you need to be adept at understanding and adapting to all kinds of cultural differences.

Research

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