ERIC BERGESON
Get ready to change Ma’s diapers 
In the New York Times this past week, Princeton University Professor Hendrik Hartog wrote about the old days when families took care of elderly people.
January 20, 2012
Creating a nation of whiners
The last thing a kid needs when he gets in a little trouble or doesn’t get as much playing time as might seem right is to have his parents turn into his free defense lawyers.
“My kid would never do that,” seems to have replaced “Well, you’d better go take your lumps” in the parental phrase book, even on the smallest matters.
By Eric Bergeson , January 13, 2012
Counting tree rings, thinking of the past
Twas the day after Christmas, but it could have been October. No snow. Mid-forties. A perfect day for cutting firewood.
There stood a big dead ash tree about 100 yards from the house that’s been bugging me for a couple of years, so I decided to go after it. It alone could heat the house for at least two weeks!
January 06, 2012
New more healthy habits
The use of the New Year’s holiday as a chance to get one’s behavior under control by making resolutions just shows how firmly habit holds us in its iron grip.
By Eric Bergeson , December 30, 2011
Recording the storytellers
“You know, somebody should get him on tape telling all those stories,” you hear people say about some local wag.
“Someday I just want to set up a video camera have her talk for an hour,” others announce. “When she’s gone, all that history will just disappear.”
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Most wanna-be documentarians never get around to recording the storytellers and the old-timers.
By Eric Bergeson , December 23, 2011
Creating contentment and tackling our discontent
As bizarre as it sounds, research shows that the more affluent a society, the less content its people.
In tribal jungle societies, there simply is no depression. Their languages have no word for it.
By Eric Bergeson , December 16, 2011
We have to value those who stay
Those interested in the survival of small towns often cite one solution: We need to get our young people to stay.
However, according to the authors of the book “Hollowing Out the Middle,” which examines an actual small town in the Midwest, small-town schools prepare and encourage their best students to leave.
By Eric Bergeson , December 02, 2011
Driving when we shouldn’t
As I write this, there’s some ribs smoking on the grill. The mashed potatoes turned out just right. The squash needs a little more time in the oven.
It isn’t Thanksgiving yet, but it could be.
By Eric Bergeson , November 25, 2011
Cogs on the wheel
When President Woodrow Wilson outlined his goals for America’s fast-developing education system one hundred years ago, he said the following:
By Eric Bergeson , November 18, 2011
The first aunt Mildred
After reaching her 100th birthday last month, we wondered how long it would be before my great Aunt Olive found another reason to live.
It took one week.
By Eric Bergeson , November 11, 2011
No need to always crown a champion
The entire point of spectator sports is to crown a champion. What fun is it if we don’t find out who is the best?
But finding out who is the best is never simple. The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, but nobody in baseball will tell you the Cards are the best team.
By Eric Bergeson , November 04, 2011
It’s the comfort food time of year
As we head into the cozy days of late autumn, our bodies demand that we eat big platefuls of comfort food and then go back and dish up some more.
Comfort food, to me, is mashed potatoes, gravy and meat. And maybe some white bread with loads of real butter.
By Eric Bergeson , October 28, 2011
Blessed are the caretakers
For the past twenty years or more, an area church on a busy highway has been known for the spectacular flower bed out by its sign.
Members took pride in the flower bed. “I go to the church with the nice flowers by the sign,” they’d say, and everybody from a fifty-mile radius would know just which church they meant even though there are many other churches with flowers by their sign.
By Eric Bergeson , October 21, 2011
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