I have been seriously remiss with regard to my promise a week or two ago to write a bit more about Theodor Seuss Geisel, the beloved author better known as Dr. Suess. But while I won’t fulfill that promise in full, I will share just a bit about one of his most famous creations. Geisel, as you may know, thought that children’s books – particularly those designed to encourage reading – where a bit of a travesty: dull, unimaginative, boring. (And if you ever had to sit down with the “Dick and Jane” stories you’ll know what he meant!). And so he set out to rectify matters by taking a basic set of 225 vocabulary words that were the...

Lent is a time of self-denial and sacrifice. These aren’t terribly popular words in our culture. They seem to many today part of a dark and dingy past when religious superstition dominated all. But what of the rampant self-indulgence that governs today? Is the ability to eat, drink, spend, or have sex whenever you want to – which seem to be the goals lifted by most television programs I see – really an expression of freedom, let alone dignity or meaning? What is strength is you cannot govern yourself? What is wealth if you go to bed each night fearful that you do not have enough? What is power if you are constantly driven by the need...

Amy Cuddy studies body language. In particular, she studies how our body language doesn’t just display our reactions and emotions but actually shapes them. That’s right – how you sit shapes how you feel – including how much stress you’re feeling – and how you stand not only influences how others perceive you but also how you perceive yourself. The message of her TED Talk is that simple…and that powerful. And it has the capacity to shape how we interview, negotiate, communicate, and preach and teach. I won’t say much more, because she is such a fine teacher and her research is so interesting that I want you to experience it...