William J. Everett's Blog

Reflections on Writing, Woodworking, and Ethics

Earth Speaks in Haiti

All our careful plans and fervent hopes are devastated by one brief shudder in earth’s crust. In the face of such appalling suffering and destruction, an offering of words seems an obscene gesture. Yet words must come, not only to spurn on our action, but to reconstruct the world of meaning which a cataclysm threatens. [...]

Our Constitutional Crisis

The widely recognized dysfunction and paralysis of the US Senate is creating a Constitutional crisis in our country analogous to the fault-line that has created the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Like that quake, this one has been building for some two hundred years. Our Constitution envisioned the Senate as a deliberative body relatively insulated from [...]

Tiger Woods, Publicity, and the Earth

Tiger Woods captured my loyalty when he emerged as a Wunderkind on the collegiate golf circuit. His steely concentration, discipline, and even-tempered calm soon vaulted him to the top of the golf world. Every victory only amplified the power of his characteristic persona. He became a celebrity, tasting the ambrosia of the gods without losing [...]