Gray Matter Musings Archives - Page 4 of 21

I’ve Seen My Lifetime Disintegrate Before My Eyes

By Chris Carosa on November 5, 2024

I’ve seen my lifetime disintegrate before my eyes.

Do you have a recurring dream that you just can’t understand? No, I’m not talking about the one where you realize the final exam is today and you haven’t cracked open the textbook. Nor am I talking about the one where the giant ape is slowly chasing you, but try as you might, you just can’t run.

Those are typical anxiety dreams. They have nothing to do with final exams or giant apes. They’re more likely related to something in your daily life (usually work or some other stress-inducing environment).

Here’s the kind of dream I’m talking about: it involves a familiar landscape, maybe current, maybe from your past. It’s “familiar” in the sense that it evokes the real thing except it’sContinue Reading “I’ve Seen My Lifetime Disintegrate Before My Eyes”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 187 Abbott Parkway, 83 Victory Avenue, Abbott Parkway, Blasdell, Blasdell Bowling Academy, Blasdell Junction, Carthage, Erie Railroad, George S. Patton, hamburg, Honeoye Falls, Ingham Avenue, Lackawanna, Lave Avenue, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Mendon, New York Central, Nickel Plate Road, Our Mother of Good Counsel, Patton, Pennsylvania Railroad, Roman Triumph, Salvator's Pizzeria, South Park, St. Anthony's, Victory Avenue, Woodlawn, Woodlawn Elementary, Woodlawn Intermediate

We All Thrive When We Balance Between Healthy Competition and Community Harmony

By Chris Carosa on October 8, 2024

We are built to compete. It makes us better. It makes our businesses better. It makes our nation better.

Think of the progress we’ve made as a country over almost two-and-a-half centuries. A theme of constant competition weaves throughout that history. The pioneers fought against nature. Early entrepreneurs vied for the same markets. Writers, artists, and other imagineers have confronted their own personal demons to produce outstanding work.

As author Nancy Pearcey said, “Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best.”

Competition works because it drives us. So why do we see some bemoan it? Comedian Continue Reading “We All Thrive When We Balance Between Healthy Competition and Community Harmony”

Posted in Business Tips, Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged automakers, collaboration, competition, cooperation, Crew Carey, Gianni Versace, Nancy Pearcey, partners, Stephen Covey, win win

Should You Slap A Simple Single Or Swing For The Fences?

By Chris Carosa on October 1, 2024

Photo by Ulrik on Freeimages.com

This could easily become a column on successful investing, but it’s not. It does, however, reflect a Noble Prize-winning concept that has propelled successful investors for more than half a century. It’s simple. I’ll explain it quickly.

Every investment option possesses two critical factors: risk and return. Scholars credit economist Harry Markowitz as the first to identify the correlation of risk and return. In his 1952 paper “Portfolio Selection,” Markowitz, the father of “Modern Portfolio Theory,” says low-risk investments can yield low returns and high-risk investments must yield high returns. The “can” and “must” refer to the price you should reasonably pay for the investment.

But this column isn’t about successful investing, it’s about life. Specifically, your life. More precisely, the choices you face in your life. Understanding the dichotomy between “low-Continue Reading “Should You Slap A Simple Single Or Swing For The Fences?”

Posted in Business Tips, Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Confirmation bias, Dave Kingman, entrepreneur, fear of failure, FOMO, Harry Markowitz, instant gratification, Modern Portfolio Theory, Portfolio Selection, recency, return, risk, Risk-Return Tradeoff, Rod Carew

Are You More A Marxist Or A Lennonist?

By Chris Carosa on September 24, 2024

Karl Marx (John Jabez Edwin Mayal) and Vladimir Lenin (Unknown, presumably official), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

During dinner at the recent New York Press Association Publishers’ Conference, talked turned towards the misuse of the term “click-bait.” In a strict sense, the term applies to misleading descriptions of internet links. These phrases “bait” you to “click” the link; hence, “click-bait.” Links that have nothing to do with the sentence that lured you to click makes this technique unethical. That’s why “click-bait” has such a negative connotation.

Copywriters for more than a century have searched for sentences that “sizzle.” Elmer Wheeler documented the early years of this journey in his 1937 book Tested Statements That Sell. If you don’t recall the name of this Rochester native dubbed “America’s Greatest Salesman,” you will certainly know his most famous phrase: Continue Reading “Are You More A Marxist Or A Lennonist?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Great Writing Tips, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged #9 Dream, click-bait, Elmer Wheeler, Gimme Some Truth, Give Peace a Chance, God, Groucho Marx, Happy Xmas, headline, How Do You Sleep?, Imagine, Instant Karma!, John Lennon, Karl Marx, layered comedy, Mind Games, Mother, New York Press Association, Publishers Conference, pun, Tested Statements That Sell, The Beatles, The Simpsons, Title, Vladimir Lenin, You Bet Your Life

Did The Pope Just Endorse A U.S. Presidential Candidate?

By Chris Carosa on September 17, 2024

Francis visits a favela in Brazil during World Youth Day 2013. Source: Tânia Rêgo/ABr, CC BY 3.0 BR <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/br/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons

On the face of it, the answer is “no.” But if you dig a little deeper into what the leader of the Catholic Church is reported to have said, you might begin to wonder.

Several media outlets on Friday, September 13, 2024, reported Pope Francis said regarding the upcoming U.S. presidential election, “Not voting is ugly. It is not good. You must vote.” As to who you should vote for, Francis said, “You must choose the lesser evil. Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, (has to) think and do this.”

Sounds perfectly reasonable, right? Maybe he was taking a page out of Patrick Mahomes and Caitlin Clark, both of whom avoided endorsing either candidate and simply reminded Continue Reading “Did The Pope Just Endorse A U.S. Presidential Candidate?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged abortion, Caitlin Clark, Catholic Church, dichotomy, Donald Trump, evil, immigration, Kamala Harris, Patrick Mahomes, philosophy, Pope Francis, sin

Faith, Reason, And The Shroud Of Turin

By Chris Carosa on September 3, 2024

Image of Shroud of Turin showing positive and negative displays by source: Dianelos Georgoudis, CC BY-SA 3.0 https:creativecommons.org licenses by-sa3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

As the “science guy” in school, I got a lot of questions. They weren’t science questions, unless it was for answers on the high school chemistry exam. (And they were asked during the actual taking of the exam!) No, my friends usually asked me questions about science fiction.

That irked me.

OK, so here’s something many people didn’t know about me back then. As much of a Trekker that I was (and still am – but only for Star Trek: TOS), I was no fan of science fiction. Sure, I liked 2001: A Space Odyssey (the movie, I hated the book). Yes, I read Isaac Asimov’s I Robot (during catechism class at St. Pius because I was bored, and it was on the bookshelf I sat next to).

But, in general, I found most science fiction too dystopian, too depressing, and, well, too Continue Reading “Faith, Reason, And The Shroud Of Turin”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alexander Friedmann, Arthur C. Clarke, Big Bang, Catholic Church, Charles Darwin, Faith, First Vatican Council, Fred Hoyle, Friedmann Equations, Galileo, God, I Robot, Isaac Asimov, Jesus, On The Origin of Species, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II, Pope Pius XII, reason, Red Giants and White Dwarfs, religion, Robert Jastrow, science, Shroud of Turin, Star Trek, Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas, yang, yin

The Day ‘The Democracy’ Died

By Chris Carosa on August 27, 2024

JFK Campaign Poster. Source: Unidentified Artist, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Two hundred years. It was a great run while it lasted.

I wrote eight years ago how the establishment Republicans’ alienation of Donald Trump signaled the end of that party, (see “The Night the Grand Old Party Died,” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, April 14, 2016). A week ago, their counterpart decided to return the favor.

To fully appreciate the significance of this, understand I was raised a Kennedy Democrat, pretty much like every other Catholic who grew up in the 1960s. Every home in my family and every home of my family’s friends had two pictures hanging somewhere among their walls. One was of the Pope. The other was of John F. Kennedy.

How effusive was the Kennedy aura in our family? My brother’s name was “Kenneth.” We called him “Kenny.” My great-great aunt Zia Pepe (that would be my mother’s great aunt and my grandmother’s aunt) watched us when my mother had to substitute teach. She called my brother “Ken-eh-dee.” It was a badge of honor for him. He collected all things Kennedy, at least for a short time.

Zia Pepe was babysitting us when JFK was assassinated. The three of us watched it on TV. She cried. We didn’t know why Zia Pepe was crying. As we were watching, our mother Continue Reading “The Day ‘The Democracy’ Died”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1980 Presidential Election, Buffalo, California, Catholic, Cheryl Hines, Democrat, Donald Trump, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Grand Old Party, JFK, John F. Kennedy, Kenny, New Hampshire, Reagan, Republican, RFK Jr., Ricky, Robert F. Kennedy, Teddy Kennedy, The Democracy, Zia Pepe

On Fried Dough and Kettle Corn

By Chris Carosa on August 13, 2024

Loud and proud in familiar environs, hawking books in the Historical Building at the Erie County Fair on Saturday, August 10, 2024. Source: Author

It’s a ritual that takes place every August. For me, it started when I was too young to remember. It later intensified when I just turned old enough to learn. Then, after a long period of dormancy, it came back not just with gusto, but with the pleasant perfume of honeyed nostalgia.

We create routines that become habits that end up as traditions. They seem quite random at first, a series of oddly connected dots with no obvious meaning. Later, their regularity brings comfort. Finally, they emerge as rites of passage.

Think about your own life. If you’re like most of us, you can map this template onto certain Continue Reading “On Fried Dough and Kettle Corn”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: How Commonality Saved Captain Charles Williamson And Western New York

By Chris Carosa on July 9, 2024

Previous: Canandaigua Anxiously Waits Before Jubilation And An Elegant Supper

Captain Charles Williamson was responsible for developing much of the Genesee Country between Preemption Line and the Genesee River. Source: Main, William, Charles Williamson, Cowan & Co., Ltd., Perth, 1899, frontpiece

He was a proud Tory and Captain in the British army who volunteered to fight for King George III against the rebellious colonists. She was a proud Patriot whose father graciously saw in this prisoner of war a common human element.

Before we get into this backstory, let’s review why it’s so important.

In December 1786, the states of New York and Massachusetts agreed to resolve a conflict started by the kings of England. Those monarchs made a royal mess of Western New York, at one time or another granting rights to all or portions of it to no less than five colonies.

By the end of the American Revolution, three states had claims to the Greater Western New York region: New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut (a sliver along the southern tier). With Connecticut quickly quitting its claim, New York and Massachusetts stood nose-to-nose. With the Articles of Confederation dissolving, the two states decided to circumvent that ineffective parchment and meet in neutral territory. Ironically, this meeting took place in the state of Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: How Commonality Saved Captain Charles Williamson And Western New York”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abagail Newell, Articles of Confederation, Bath, Boston, Canada, Charles Williamson, Colonel Hugh Maxwell, Connecticut, Edinburgh Regiment, Genesee Trail, Geneva, George Washington, Iroquois Confederacy, John Graves Simcoe, Joseph Ellicott, King George III, Massachusetts, Nathaniel Gorham, New York, Newburyport, Oliver Phelps, Patrick Colquhoun, Preemption Line, Revolutionary War, Robert Morris, Roger Hale Sheaffe, Route 5 & 20, Sir William Pulteney, Sodus, State Road, The Association, The Gore, Treaty of Hartford, William Hornby

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Remembering Silvius Hoard

By Chris Carosa on June 18, 2024

Previous: Fort Niagara And The Man-Made Wonder Of Lockport

Lafayette memorial on 1 Exchange Blvd. in downtown Rochester identifying the site of Hoard’s Tavern. Source: Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum & Science Center

Think of history as a mosaic containing thousands of tiny stones. When you get up close, they appear unremarkable. Except for a few, often minor, variations in color or a slightly different shape, they look nearly identical. Sure, for any number of reasons, a few stand out and pique your curiosity. But all in all, they’re all the same.

Until you back away. Farther away, you see the small rocks begin to transform into a series of patterns. It’s as though each stone represents a dot connected to its neighbors. From a more distant perspective, you no longer see individual stones. You see a compelling picture. As if it was always there.

That’s history. It’s a picture you see, far removed from the original source, the original data points, the human stones that actually created the picture. It’s too easy to forget those Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Remembering Silvius Hoard”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Antwerp, Charles Alexander Hoard, Charles Brooks Hoard, Daniel Hoard, David Parish, Hoar, Hoard's Tavern, Jefferson County, Lafayette, Lewis DeVillers, Louis Charles Aime LeFebvre, Nancy Mary DeVillers, Nathaniel Rochester, Ogdensburg Turnpike Company, Parishville, Revolutionary War, Rochester, Rochesterville, Silvius Hoard, St. Lawrence County, Welland Canal