TreeHouseLetter
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Recent Letters
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek...
What Makes a Speech Great?
2 Min read Admiral McRaven Operation Neptune Spear Toolbox, Speaking skills * Admiral 'Bill'...
“It is precisely because life is so precious to me that I am prepared to die.”
5 Min read Letter to wife in the event of death A Soldier's Own Obituary, NYTimes 3 March 1971...
The Cure for Resentment and Cynicism
3 Min read 2 Book recs 1 Podcast rec Wisdom from the college graduate AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify...
Weasel Words
3 Min read 2 Book recs on grammar, usage, and style Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 Improve writing...
What Makes a Single Person’s Death Feel Large?*
4 Min read 2 Book recs, on writing and on jigsaws Toolbox, the Eulogy 1 Elegy, What is Dying? for...
Wild Horses Dragged Me Away
3 Min read Wild horses Assateague Island Estancia Alta Vista, Patagonia 1 Book, children's classic...
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Reader Favorites
A Day with the Night Stalkers
8 Min read 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) The Soldier and the Citizen Nashville Ides of March AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * On a lonesome stretch of road north of Nashville, we turned onto a farmer's path. Strains of Johnny Cash and the...
Charlie Munger and the Art of Swearing
5 Min read EXPLICIT language, Ages 13 to 103 True Story, investing Toolbox Essay and book rec, Ursula Le Guin Patton's Speech AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Charlie Munger was making the rounds with investors. A living icon in the investing world, he was some...
The Meaning in Music
4 min read Song and Story Rachmaninoff Rybnikov AVAILABLE IN PODCAST (Listen to this letter to hear the piano music) Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm/emelle Your job will change, where you live will change, the people in your life will change, but you will always have your...
Books as Trophies? the Bibliophile vs the Bibliophagist
6 Min read 2 Book recs Music in Prose Toolbox, Ages 9 to 99 Word Nerd Special AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify anchor.fm/emelle * * I have a book problem. It's a good kind of problem because books teach me a lot and I get to hang out and learn with the best. The...
On Becoming Sheepdogs, a Modern Fable
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes In the wake of recent events regarding the tragic death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, this letter seems more relevant than ever. It has been updated to relate my own experience and the role of the brave men and...
Dulce et Decorum Est – Is it sweet and noble to die for one’s country? or just an old lie?
A tribute to Roman soldier poet Horace and British soldier poet Wilfred Owen On Memorial Day we remember those who died while serving their country, a holiday dating back to the Civil War, but with roots going even farther back than that. The highest honor for...
Why Scout Finch Hates School – the Best Novel of the Century on Education
"Scout” Finch’s first day in school exposes the pretentious and often hollow ambitions behind progressive education in the 1930s and today. The beloved characters from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird provide timeless insight on public education. Scout’s father...
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Browse by Topic
On Life
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek special, logarithm * Thought exercise for the day. How many friends between you and anyone on the planet? In popular culture this number is often referred to as Six...
“It is precisely because life is so precious to me that I am prepared to die.”
5 Min read Letter to wife in the event of death A Soldier's Own Obituary, NYTimes 3 March 1971 Major John Alexander Hottell, III Memorial Day AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes I first saw this in my son's Bugle Notes 2020-2024, a pocket-sized book with mission and...
The Cure for Resentment and Cynicism
3 Min read 2 Book recs 1 Podcast rec Wisdom from the college graduate AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes The cure for resentment and self-abnegation is gratitude. So says Douglas Murray, author and guest on the Good Fellows Podcast.* Murray asked his friend--a...
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Stories
“It is precisely because life is so precious to me that I am prepared to die.”
5 Min read Letter to wife in the event of death A Soldier's Own Obituary, NYTimes 3 March 1971 Major John Alexander Hottell, III Memorial Day AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes I first saw this in my son's Bugle Notes 2020-2024, a pocket-sized book with mission and...
The Cure for Resentment and Cynicism
3 Min read 2 Book recs 1 Podcast rec Wisdom from the college graduate AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes The cure for resentment and self-abnegation is gratitude. So says Douglas Murray, author and guest on the Good Fellows Podcast.* Murray asked his friend--a...
What Makes a Single Person’s Death Feel Large?*
4 Min read 2 Book recs, on writing and on jigsaws Toolbox, the Eulogy 1 Elegy, What is Dying? for the bereaved * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Four friends died recently and three were my age: one from acute liver failure, one from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS),...
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On Education
Today is a Numeric Palindrome
1 Min read Word Nerd Alert Toolbox * * Today has a date format which is a numeric palindrome. Or, a palindromic number. Or, a palindromic number sequence. Fun, if you're in to such things as I am, sequences and syntax and such. Or alliteration. Or sentence fragments....
ChatGPT on the Meaning of Life, Love, War
3 Min Read Prompts on life's mysteries Artificial Intelligence generates short answer, sonnet, couplet, haiku, blog post Writer's Toolbox OpenAI and ChatGPT * Three times a charm. I finally got onto the site in the witching hours; maybe a 3:30 AM login helps. If you...
The New Words Are In, Merriam-Webster Dictionary
2 Min read 13 New words Late to Coffee with a Baker's dozen * New words are in. And, 370 words have been added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary this September. You likely know many and below are some of my favorites. The editors break them down by category, but I...
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On Literature
What Book Would You Take to a Desert Island?
7 Min read 2 Book recs Film rec Article abstract, on Virtue and Vice* Toolbox, Improve writing, ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * What book would you take to a desert island? I didn't know and hadn't given it much thought until Saturday when I told my...
Exercises in Style: a Writing Tribute
3 min read Book rec Writing Toolbox Wordplay Ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST HERE Titles begin with letters as human forms Narrative One day at about midday in the food line, behind the checkout of a more or less busy Costco, I observed a person with a very big...
Bedside Counselor on Parenting in Anger, in Two Translations
6 min read Book rec Prose for emergencies Writing feature AVAILABLE IN PODCAST, CLICK HERE For solace and for counsel, I have several books I find myself returning to again and again, and to this one, most recently, as my third child prepares to leave home.* For...
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Bookshelf
The Cure for Resentment and Cynicism
3 Min read 2 Book recs 1 Podcast rec Wisdom from the college graduate AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes The cure for resentment and self-abnegation is gratitude. So says Douglas Murray, author and guest on the Good Fellows Podcast.* Murray asked his friend--a...
Weasel Words
3 Min read 2 Book recs on grammar, usage, and style Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 Improve writing immediately AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs it sucks the...
What Makes a Single Person’s Death Feel Large?*
4 Min read 2 Book recs, on writing and on jigsaws Toolbox, the Eulogy 1 Elegy, What is Dying? for the bereaved * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Four friends died recently and three were my age: one from acute liver failure, one from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS),...
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On the Military
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek special, logarithm * Thought exercise for the day. How many friends between you and anyone on the planet? In popular culture this number is often referred to as Six...
What Makes a Speech Great?
2 Min read Admiral McRaven Operation Neptune Spear Toolbox, Speaking skills * Admiral 'Bill' McRaven spoke at the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment event to commemorate Operation Neptune Spear. He started by saying he was going off script and that his wife...
“It is precisely because life is so precious to me that I am prepared to die.”
5 Min read Letter to wife in the event of death A Soldier's Own Obituary, NYTimes 3 March 1971 Major John Alexander Hottell, III Memorial Day AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes I first saw this in my son's Bugle Notes 2020-2024, a pocket-sized book with mission and...
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Writing Features
The Music in Prose
Belief Is a Powerful Elixir
4 Min read 1 Essay collection, Maya Angelou Music as a gift AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Believe in me and I can do anything. It's a powerful thing, belief. If a person believes in you, you can move mountains. As a child when I asked why I had bent fingers,...
Two Things Everybody’s Got to Do
2 min read What is love? Music in Prose Receiving a book you already own Black History Month 1 novel, Zora Neale Hurston AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * This winter I received five new copies of books I own, four as gifts. When I've read a book, I have a...
Punch In, Punch Out: the Profession and the Side Hustle
3 Min read 1 Book rec Writing Originality and Passion AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * So you want to write? Do you like words? I finished reading Murakami's book Novelist as a Vocation which was published in 2015 and translated to the English in 2022. As of the...
Poetry for Emergencies
The Edgeless Sound and the Night Owl
2 Min read Poetry for Emergencies Leonard Cohen Roshi's Poem The Poe Arch - Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Gateway AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * TreeHouse view of dawn * The book falls open to Roshi's Poem. Though I had already read it, in my hurry up the stairs I...
Prescription for Life and Rumi’s Cow
2 Min read 1 Memoir, Short Take Poetry for Emergencies Rumi, Mystic Poet * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes Dx, Rx. You may recognize these as abbreviations for Diagnosis (Dx) and Prescription (Rx). Melody Moezzi writes how the poet and mystic helped her deal with...
Books I Love
5 Min read 17 Books, 19.5 including mentions in footnotes Genres: Memoir, Essays, Fiction, Writing, Love, Poetry, War Toolbox, Texture in writing Contemporary and classic books from the top of my stacks, my more current reading. * The most common question I get is,...
Toolbox
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek special, logarithm * Thought exercise for the day. How many friends between you and anyone on the planet? In popular culture this number is often referred to as Six...
What Makes a Speech Great?
2 Min read Admiral McRaven Operation Neptune Spear Toolbox, Speaking skills * Admiral 'Bill' McRaven spoke at the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment event to commemorate Operation Neptune Spear. He started by saying he was going off script and that his wife...
Weasel Words
3 Min read 2 Book recs on grammar, usage, and style Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 Improve writing immediately AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs it sucks the...