"Since the pandemic started, I've wanted to stay connected with our community. Through the form of a weekly blog, I share my insights and reflections on various topics."
This past Sunday, I was on my way to a lacrosse tournament with my son north of Baltimore. It was still dark outside, about 46 degrees and raining. We would be there all day and I wasn’t in the best mood. Then, I listened to a podcast. It was On Point with Krista Tippett. On Sunday, Krista was interviewing Sharon Salzburg who is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World.
Late yesterday afternoon, my colleague, Zuhra Aziz, emailed me about when this week’s edition would be ready. Zuhra is the person who is responsible for posting this email each week and she knows to keep me on schedule. I explained to her that I was struggling with writer’s block but that I was taking my 11-year-old, Alex, to his lacrosse practice and that maybe I would find inspiration there. Or perhaps after watching the debate. Zuhra told me that she was betting on the 11-year-olds. Well, Zuhra was wrong. I know it was the first time, Zuhra. I won’t tell anyone.
During the summer, my son, Matthew, who has just turned 14, went fishing with a few friends. We saw this as a nice diversion from being cooped up inside our house since March. His friend had fished many times with his father and knew of local fishing holes where they could go. We told him that we expected him to be safe and that they should only go where it was okay to fish as I knew that there are certain places where fishing is not allowed. He proudly sent us the picture above when he caught his first fish.
I think we have all seen stories on the news about the backlogs at the IRS that are causing delays in return processing, delays in refunds being issued and erroneous tax notices being mailed to taxpayers. Luckily, 2020 is an otherwise stress-free year or this would be troubling. Tax Analysts, a non-profit tax publisher, stated in a press release yesterday that the current backlog of tax returns to be processed is 9.2 million and that they have 7.9 million pieces of unopened mail.
In the 1995 comedy, Billy Madison, starring Adam Sandler, Sandler’s character is a childish 27 year old who finds he needs to prove to his father that he is mature enough to inherit and lead the family business. While mildly entertaining, believe me, it was not among the Best Picture nominations. One of my younger colleagues sent me the clip from the movie in the link below and referenced that it summed up the debate on Tuesday night.
I don’t think I could write this week without paying tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Harvard Gazette ran a story titled The Life and Legacy of RBG, in which representatives of the Harvard community commented on her accomplishments and achievements. I’ll just note a few highlights but the link to the article is below if you want to read it.