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I was recently reminded that art is more than a shared cultural obsession. Like many families, we have developed a shared admiration of the brilliant songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, Hamilton. We’ve not seen it, but the score is sufficiently catchy and the lyrics are so deft and clever that it has captivated us in a  delight that knows no …

Like many docs, I took all the accelerated classes our high school offered. I remain in touch with several close friends from those days. Some stay with me for our shared values, others  for our shared history. At the wedding of one such friend, I had the opportunity a few years back to reconnect with the class gunner. For those …

Have I Lost The X Factor? A favorite WCI post describes the X factor, a perfect storm of innate qualities, experience and self-discipline that lead to wealth-building behavior. Those who possess it often have certain traits in common, which may include: Laser focus on goals. Ability to sacrifice and delay gratification translating to the ability to save aggressively. Reaction to …

My parents are immigrants. Both learned English as a second language. This naturally leads to moments where a specific heartfelt sentiment takes an unexpected turn as the mental prose is converted from one language to another with an incomplete grasp of the subtleties of the non-native vocabulary. Dad studied electrical engineering but pursued a career in business. Consequently his technical …

Burger Time The Atlantic prides itself on provocative writing that skewers and roasts the sacred cows of the elite progressive class. While some journalists overdo it to the point of inducing iconoclast fatigue, the most deft inflict psychic wounds that cause the reader to reconsider vulnerabilities in their thought processes. Daniel Markovits, a Yale Law Professor whose book is excerpted …

This morning I was getting my lazy butt back into the swing of cycling when I noticed a chunk of rock sliding down a hillside next to the road. It was a fist-sized chunk, and did not threaten to strike me, but it focused my attention on something I seldom consider, the geologic time scale. Rocks like this scatter alongside …

Craigslist runs a Missed Connections column where would-be romantics (and unsubtle sex seekers) anonymously confess sightings of potential mates that got away in often mundane settings, a wonderful place to explore vulnerable admissions by folks who regret not having voiced their feelings in the lost moment. One of the finest adaptations I’ve seen of this column is the artist Sophie …

A friend recounted his recent experience interviewing a prospective financial advisor. He’d been favorably impressed. The would-be advisor informed him that he would not only help with investments, but provide tax strategy recommendations as an added value, to show how far he was willing to go above and beyond the less comprehensive services provided by his peers. The suitor’s first …

Mass media is a fickle entity. One minute medicine is approaching peak burnout and physicians are in crisis. The next we’ve never had it so good. The New York Times recently published the provocatively entitled article, “How Medicine Became the Stealth Family-Friendly Profession.” My first thought was that a journalist had decided to go rogue by rebuffing the conventional wisdom, …