"It's now the Nineteen-Nineties, and pessimism and despair are in fashion. There are almost no hippies left on the Mountain. Fundamentalists rage through the world like hungry beasts. Belief in apocalypse is everywhere, and a numb dumb fatalistic yearning to get it over with. Wonderful excuses to abandon all responsibility. Every day our news media bring us a billion cries of pain, and there is nothing we can do about any of them - as individuals. Small wonder we feel the growing urge to put ... read more

It occurs to me that the dogma of marital relationships that I grew up with in the '50's (yeah, hard to imagine, innit) likely evolved as a response to the complex question of how to conduct and maintain a relationship. Instead of trying to constantly figure out what can be expected, what should be provided, what levels (if any) of dependencies and dominance should define a relationship, mankind kinda settled into a formula: man provides the means for a home, woman keeps the home and raises t... read more