Making it happen
I’m always on the lookout for stories about people who manage to write books, despite having day jobs. So this story piqued my interest. A movie called “Revenant” recently premiered. It’s about a frontier fur trapper and based on a novel that a DC lawyer wrote in “his spare time.” The author, Michael Punke, wrote...
Bach’s compromise
Compromises can make great work possible. I know that sounds counterintuitive. But it seems to have worked for Johann Sebastian Bach, who could not rely solely on composing to keep himself afloat. At one point, he had to choose between a court appointment and a post as a church organist and music master. Each had...
How a dog and some sheep led Patricia Elliott to the world of cheesemaking
An obituary in The Washington Post caught my attention today. When Patricia Elliott was in her late 60s, she began milking her sheep to make cheese. As she developed Everona Dairy, her artisanal cheese company, she became one of the leaders in the farmhouse cheese movement, according to a New York Times food writer. How...
The many pursuits of Rita Levi-Montalcini
Some of the happiest people manage to satisfy not one, but several interests. Consider Rita Levi-Montalcini, who was no ordinary scientist. Her scientific discoveries explained how nerves growing out from an embryonic spinal cord find the specific developing limbs they will innervate, or supply with nerves, according to The Economist. Her work proving the existence...