Author: Jim Garrett
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Penelope Speaks — And I Finally Know How to Listen
There is a specific kind of reading experience that only happens when you have already done the work. Not reading more books, necessarily — but doing the reading inside yourself that prepares you to receive what a book is offering. I had that experience once already in this journey, when a copy of The Penelopiad…
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A Light From Antiquity
In 2025 we had an opportunity to take a trip to Italy which also included an added cruise of the Greek Isles. One stop was in Mikonos, Greece … Magnificent!! While we walked amongst the beautiful white buildings and stone alleyways, we were fortunate to encounter Gioras Bakery and then were fortunate enough to be…
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Caffè Reggio — A Morning in Greenwich Village
I turned the corner and there I was… Caffè Reggio, the oldest coffee shop in Greenwich Village having opened in 1927. My first day in NYC and my daughter was needing to sleep in due to having just come off a 12-day stretch of Emergency Department night shifts … so it was time for a…
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Standing at the Edge: A Reflection on Homer
This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. I’ve just closed The Odyssey, and I’m sitting here with that particular kind of quiet that follows a long journey — not restlessness, not exactly satisfaction, but something closer to arrival. The Iliad and The Odyssey…
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Rilke and His Encouragement then and for Now
There’s something about sitting with a cappuccino that invites honesty. Maybe it’s the warmth, or the quiet ritual of holding something steady while everything else feels uncertain. Gathered here around this table—books half-open, notes scattered, maybe absently tracing the rim of my cup—and the conversation turns, almost inevitably, to Rilke. Specifically, Letters to a Young…
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Harry Connick, Jr at Carnegie Hall
He walked to a childhood upright piano at the center of Carnegie Hall’s stage and sat down. Not the grand instrument you’d expect. His. The one he grew up playing. And before a note was struck, I understood that what was coming wasn’t a concert. It was a conversation with his mother. After having visited…
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The Full Arc of Transformation
Circle of Jacques-Louis David, French, 1748–1825. Calliope Mourning Homer, 1812. Oil on canvas. Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943.231. Personal photography. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. “Who are you? Where are you from? Your city?…
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The Peace Found in the Pines by a Pond
Tranquility is defined as a state free from disturbance — calm. Wonderment is a state of awed admiration or respect. When is the last time we allowed ourselves to experience either of these, let alone both? And how does one even travel to those “states”? I want to suggest we can get there the same…
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When Ithaca Becomes a Mirror: Transformation of the Home
Personal photography. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Greek and Roman Galleries. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. So, what did I carry into Book 13? A tension of how faithfulness in a marriage may have been viewed in the Bronze Age, but…
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What Sherlock Taught Me About Ballet
For approximately the last 65 years, or at least for as long as my memory serves me, I have thought of ballet as something for … well … not for me. Even with the occasional story of the possibly mythical football player who took ballet to strengthen balance and power, I remained skeptical that it…
The Curious Table 