BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Picasso was feeling low. Following the suicide of his friend and occasional roommate, the painter Carles Casagemas, Pablo plunged into a rock-bottom depression that lasted more than 3 years. During this time (1901 to 1904), the vividly...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Sometimes you just need to shut out the world for a while, you know? If you can’t relate, I know the Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) certainly can. Whether the threat is carnivores or a demanding career or even an infinite to-do...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Ever notice how many of the colloquialisms we use for comparisons aren’t all that apropos, or even true? Like… – graceful as a swan (have you ever seen one on land?) – dull as ditchwater (believe me, that liquid is lively at the...
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD “But never met this Fellow, Attended or alone, Without a tighter Breathing, and Zero at the Bone.” Unlike Emily Dickinson, ophiophobia (fear of snakes) isn’t an issue for me. I like snakes and know them to be upstanding ecosystem citizens… um,...
Next time the Weather Channel predicts a cold front, with or without a “wintery mix,” ask yourself if the people peeking out from fleece hoodies, swaths of scarves, turned up coat collars, and balaclavas as they hunch toward the warmth of home look more like bears… or turtles.