Selected Essays

As I notice the exquisite details, I have a sense of awe that you get if you have ever seen Persian miniature paintings, where details are painted with hairs drawn from the bellies of squirrels.

The title, ‘pull the baby out of the fire’, comes from an 18th century English satirist named Mandeville. In The Fable of the Bees, Mandeville explains the nature of Virtue and Vice with a story.

This essay deals with ways to focus on the strengths and gifts of communities, and especially children, in war and other adversity. It comes out of the many years that I worked in the field of child health and rights. Abstract: The paper examines ideas about the impact of suffering on childhood, and places trauma…

During the ten years that I worked with Street Kids International, I met a lot of cool, big hearted people working in the field around the world. This is a portrait of one of the best: Rogelio Padilla.   Our flight to Guadalajara arrives an hour late. Before we can clear customs we must play…

29 Mar 2011 Jane Jacobs: Prophet of Globalization? Yes, but with a (local) human face Inspired by the Ideas that Matter conference celebrating Jane Jacobs in 1997, this essay is an effort to place her work within the continuing debate about how globalization works, and where we go from here. Sao Paolo aerial (Photo by…

Interested in Frye, author of The Great Code? Ever heard of Morris, the English arts and crafts radical of the late 19th century? William Morris was a multi-disciplinary designer, poet, social activist, translator of ancient Icelandic sagas, and a central member of the Pre-Raphaelites. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882) was…

“In times like these,” says Thomas Berry, “…we need people who realize that we are shaping a new order of things.”

Oliver Sacks is simply a delightful writer, and this essay partakes of that pleasure. Oaxaca Journal crackles with botanical and ecological information framed for its meaning, not merely presented as scientific factoids.

After I left Médecins Sans Frontières in 2002, it took me some time to sort out my thoughts and feelings about that extraordinary organization.