by Sidney S. Stark “You have to be willing to risk everything, protect nothing, and then you’ll lose nothing in the end.” Is this advice from a professional gambler or perhaps a world-class downhill ski racer? It’s not hard to find many other possible authors of the seemingly outrageous counsel but a lot harder to… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Sidney Stark
How Useful is Common Sense?
By Sidney S. Stark A writer friend of mine was lamenting the fact that “today we make decisions based on statistical analysis rather than experience, or what used to be called common sense.” There would certainly seem to be plenty of proof backing that up. I’m not sure if it’s the shortening of our attention… Continue Reading
Patterns
by Sidney S. Stark Last week a young musician sent me a link to an article she’d saved from the New York Times. The article my friend sent can be read here in its entirety if you’re interested. It’s called The Young and the Perceptive, and was written by Joseph T. Hallinan for the Op… Continue Reading
What is Character?
by Sidney S. Stark ‘She doesn’t have any character,’ ‘Lord, what a character!’ or ‘It was really out of character’, all describe different traits within the parameters of personality, temperament and moral fiber. So clearly character can mean many different things to different people in various settings. But what does it mean to an author… Continue Reading
Spring in our Hearts
by Sidney S. Stark Whanne that April with his shoures sote (Sweet Rain) The droughte (dryness) of March hath perced (pierced) to the rote (root)… Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 1. The prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (above) is familiar to most of us who remember it from our struggles in eighth grade English class.… Continue Reading
Play it by Ear
by Sidney S. Stark The phrase ‘play it by ear’ has many nuances of meaning in both its literal and figurative iterations. The one we’re all most familiar with refers to the musical ability to perform a piece without notation. The furthest extreme of that version is probably represented by the prodigious skill of the… Continue Reading