The Writer's Poke

Neon Tetras are tiny little fish, but they add a colorful element to a freshwater tank. We had a 75 gallon bow-front tank with around forty fish. Neon Tetras are cheap, and so we decided to add a dozen. This group of new inductees liked to keep together; all twelve collectively were about the size of one of our Angelfish, of which we had six. At the fish store, fish are color-coded to let buyers know which fish get along well with each other. A green sticker means that “fish play well with others,” and all of the fish in our tank were of the green-sticker variety. So it was a great surprise to wake up the following morning to discover that six of the newly-added Neons had vanished. Where had they gone? Did they somehow escape the tank, making their way for the Savannah River – ala the gang of highly intelligent escape artists in Finding Nemo? We scratched our heads about it, but assumed that they must just be very good at hiding. The next day, however, we turned on the ta...

Yesterday my wife and I picked up our daughter before the preschool’s scheduled naptime. She was so happy to see us because she absolutely hates naps. We didn’t have any plans which required us to get her earlier than normal, but as my wife explains it, going to preschool is Tavi’s job, and everyone deserves an afternoon off now and then. When we arrived home, Tavi was ready to take on her day; her mom and I were ready to take a nap. And we did. I used to be very anti-nap myself. I considered it a complete waste of an afternoon. How can I sleep when there’s so much that needs to be done? Recently, however, I’ve reconsidered my position on napping. Joseph Campbell writes, “illumination cannot be communicated.” For years, my wife tried to convince me that sleeping away the afternoon actually increased her productivity. After all, she said, a successful nap allows a person to reboot. Waking up from a nap is like a second opportunity to seize the day. No matter. She couldn’...

The philosopher John Michael Montgomery once wrote, “Life’s a dance you learn as you go; sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don’t worry about what you don’t know.” I took my daughter to our first daddy-daughter dance this weekend; I think both of us were a little bit uncomfortable, because neither of us knows how to dance. Heading out to the dance floor is kind of like volunteering to be thrown into the deep end when you don’t know how to swim. Perhaps the threat isn’t the same. That is, if you flop around on the dance floor, at least you aren’t going to drown. The best approach to dancing is probably just to go with the flow of the music. Yes, there are specific types of dances, such as the waltz, which have systematic, ordered steps. Even so, I assume the key even to those dances is to “feel” the music and let it run through your movements. For a daddy-daughter type of dance, just ignoring everyone else made it a lot easier. We weren’t there for anyone else, ...

Joseph Campbell’s insights are endlessly fascinating. He suggests that humans are different from animals; spiders, for example, innately knows how to spin a web from birth. Humans, on the other hand, have a pretty long learning curve. Just consider: how long did it take you to learn how to tie your shoes? Ride a bike? Tying shoes and riding bikes aren’t normally considered to be cultural rituals, although at least in Western culture, it might be argued that both are milestones of sorts. More to Campbell’s point, however, is the idea that values are “socially transmitted,” and “myths are the mental supports of rites.” What this means in the most basic sense is that we all learn what it means to be human. What it also indicates is that there is not one right way to be human. Just as different species of spiders might utilize different spider web patterns, humans utilize different myths. These myths may have different parts in common, but essentially we are defined by the myths...