by Mark O'Brien | Dec 24, 2015
Bearing in mind that The Hero With a Thousand Faces, From Ritual to Romance, and The Golden Bough are among the most influential books in my life, I offer this reflection, with apologies to real poets everywhere: The venerable holidays are fast upon us now. The...
by Mark O'Brien | Sep 21, 2015
A post in The Cauldron, published by Sports Illustrated, is one of the most affecting things I’ve read on brand, marketing, culture, and their inextricable relationships in a long while. “The NFL remains addictive in America, but it’s losing ground...
by Mark O'Brien | Apr 7, 2015
In the past, we’d have said the younger of my two younger brothers, Ben (to protect his privacy, this is not his real name), is mentally retarded. In these enlightened times, we’re more likely to say he’s intellectually disadvantaged, synaptically challenged, or...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 24, 2014
In the song, “Turn, Turn, Turn”, made famous by the Byrds, though adapted from Ecclesiastes 3:1 by George Aber and Pete Seeger, we learn this: “To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven.” So it is, then,...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 22, 2014
For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. (John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath) Like so many other inexplicable occurrences in my life, I...
