Morning Stories

“Of course I can shift into a lower gear.” Especially when you’re driving down a residential street. Going deep — depth — is a word and an action that has somehow slipped out of modern life. Probably somewhere into the deep end.

Mind you, it was not an answer — Google delivered a collection of possible sources that might have one. Might. I was astounded. And thought: This is the end of ignorance.

No, I'm not entirely certain — but appearances suggest: most fingers are already finished by the time a human arrives in the cradle. They're still a little small. And still a little clumsy. But as fingers go, they're perfectly fine and ready to feel their way through the world.

Brian is full of meaning. Not the man, mind you, but the name itself. When Brian was still a freshly minted Celt having a look around Ireland, his name gained a little extra weight. The Celts and the Irish agreed that nomen est omen. Brian is the noble one, the strong one, or simply the hill, depending on which way you interpret five letters.

The impact was less hard than expected. But the burning on my cheek was impossible to ignore — and good advice was hard to come by. It felt like a clap in the face. Though this very thing — advice in certain situations — is often an uninvited guest. Or the fifth wheel on the wagon.

He wasn’t suddenly there in the room. He’d been present for quite some time. But nobody wanted to notice Dumbo. Or worse: talk about Dumbo. That would be what you might call an absurdity. An absurdity by the name of Dumbo.

Risk? What reads here like the name of a chocolate bar turns out to be far more complex in practice — and rarely comes with any sweetness attached.

Well, another word has nestled itself into the conversation — one that carries this particular, wake-you-up quality: Hopeium. A blend of hope and some metallic-sounding suffix, -ium. Hope is metallic? No. Hope is magnetic.

Two-edged? Isn't that just standard in the production of a sword? Anyway, the comparison doesn't limp — because the sword hasn't been used yet. Or so I think.

What does "cyranomising" mean? Christian Wehrli explores why Cyrano de Bergerac reveals more about language, love, and communication than any textbook. An essay on Rostand, rhetoric, and the power of words.

"So, Eve, how are you doing?" "Oh, thanks for asking. I think I'm doing well." "Eve — were you even asked?"

What exactly does this norm look like — the one that every person in a community is supposed to be, look like, and behave according to? The norm, or rather normality, is a chameleon in both meaning and effect. Come again?

Oh my goodness. Yesterday she walked into my life. Full sail ahead, without any barriers whatsoever.

Storytelling — the art of shaping experience into narrative — has an extraordinarily long lifespan. Before writing and printing existed, storytelling was the only way humans could share knowledge. It’s also one of humanity’s greatest inventions — a gym for the imagination and the mind. Reading or listening to a story remains one of the purest forms of entertainment.