ALL THE LIGHT WE CAN SEE

Joey An interdepartmental feud PROLOGUE Brianna Smythe took one look at Joey and said to herself, Bingo. There’s my ticket to the Big Time. The young psychologist immediately knew her trip to New Harmony, Utah and the subsequent hassle with the local rednecks over the whereabouts of the cabin that Joey and his great-grandmother lived in were going to pay off in a big way. She observed that Joey established brief eye contact with her and then looked down at the porch floor. The young boy, who was a good six inches taller

Joey, the mechanical boy, recovers and saves the world CHAPTER 31 Brianna walked into Dr. Helmut Volkmann’s office, and for a moment thought she had lost her mind. She was in Old Vienna, standing on an oriental carpet, surrounded by saffron and brown floral wallpaper. In one corner of the room, on a wooden stand, was a three-foot-tall, blue and white ceramic jar with a round cover, along the wall opposite the vase was a dark chocolate leather couch, lacking arms, but having an inclined headrest. The heavy drapes, covering the one window,

The wisdom of our tribe nearly kills Joey CHAPTER 26 “Joey, do you know what the word ‘philosophy’ means?” Professor Thayer asked. The man-child shook his head. He had never been in the presence of a Master and was reluctant to speak. “The word ‘philosophy’ comes from the Greek — philia . . . sophia.” Professor Thayer pronounced each root of the word clearly and distinctly. “Philia means love and sophia means wisdom, so philosophy is the love of wisdom. Joey, do you know what ‘wisdom’ means?” Joey answered, “I’ve been told that

Worthy of a Zen Master CHAPTER 22 “Watch your step. Don’t stumble,” Brianna said. Joey had no difficulty seeing in the dimly lighted auditorium, but he was apprehensive. He had never seen several hundred students sitting in semi-darkness, and he did not know what to expect. He followed Dr. Smythe, as if he were descending into a vast cave. Halfway down the flight of concrete stairs, his guide stopped and asked the students seated on the aisle if she and Joey could get through. The students did not get up but rearranged their

The best and the brightest?  CHAPTER 18 Brianna hesitated and then knocked on the door beneath the name “Governor ‘Bud’ Wheeler.” On the other side of the door, the voice of the people shouted, “Come in.” Brianna opened the door and said, “I’m Brianna Smythe, and this is Joey.” Three grinning campaign posters wrapped in red, white, and blue bunting and Governor “Bud,” himself, greeted Brianna and Joey. “Come in, come in,” the Governor said. A campaign smile and a handshake charged toward Brianna and Joey. Governor “Bud” pumped their arms, pounded their

An economic lesson at Walmart CHAPTER 15 “Joey, do you know what the word ‘university’ means?” Brianna asked. “A university is an institution of higher learning.” “Excellent, Joey. Today your education begins.” Brianna had bought new clothes for Joey so that he would look like a regular undergraduate and not like some hayseed from Southern Utah. But Joey refused the new clothes. Brianna forgot that Joey never experienced adolescent rebellion and that he did not know the desire to conform to peer pressure. In many, if not in most ways, Joey was a

The Old Girl Network to the rescue CHAPTER 11 Without the Old Girl Network, Brianna would have been lost. The New Sisterhood had infiltrated every level of the University. As a result, no aspect of President Harlan’s life was not available on some node of the Old Girl Network. In response to Brianna’s distress call, the New Sisterhood sprang into action. Soon, President Harlan was reading a confidential letter addressed to him by Janet Williams, a professor of journalism. Professor Williams explained that Dr. Smythe had been sand-bagged by Jeffrey Nelson, a troublesome

Testosterone thought appears to win CHAPTER 4 “Blah, blah, blah . . . Furthermore, blah, blah, blah . . . And, in addition, blah, blah, blah . . .” The Chairperson of the Philosophy Department took forever to say everything about nothing. Lewis thought, Why won’t this idiot shut up? No wonder these meetings are interminable. Academics have absolutely no self-control when it comes to speech. Once each semester the President of the University met with the department chairpersons. The meeting was always held at the Faculty Club, the only posh University building

An interdepartmental feud PROLOGUE Brianna Smythe took one look at Joey and said to herself, Bingo. There’s my ticket to the Big Time. The young psychologist immediately knew her trip to New Harmony, Utah and the subsequent hassle with the local rednecks over the whereabouts of the cabin that Joey and his great-grandmother lived in were going to pay off in a big way. She observed that Joey established brief eye contact with her and then looked down at the porch floor. The young boy, who was a good six inches taller than

Has Deep Gloom Killed the Future? Before the Covid-19 Experiment focused our attention on not dying prematurely, most of us were enveloped in deep gloom, whose sources are still present. The two major political factions, the Left and the Right, promulgate apocalyptic images of the future that portray that we are fearfully close to a final descent into darkness; The human species is threatened by climate change; Kim Jong-un and Donald J. Trump can initiate nuclear war with the push of a button; the United States, China, and Russia are divvying up the

I had thought myself lost, had touched the very bottom of despair; and then, when the spirit of renunciation had filled me, I had known peace. . . . In such an hour, a man feels he has finally found himself.