As a child, I spent a lot of time in hospitals. For over sixteen years, I was treated by remarkable specialists at the University of Chicago’s Cystic Fibrosis clinic. My family lived in the western suburbs of Chicago, and it meant a 45 minute commute to the south side of Chicago whenever I got sick [...]

Yesterday, I wrote that Social Capital can be compared to a bank account: you must make investments before you can make withdrawals. You can get “overdrawn” on social capital. Let’s continue the metaphor of the bank account, and push it a little further. When you have a checking and savings account, you can make balance [...]

Monday, on my trip back to Saint Louis, I passed through Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport. Sky Harbor is a very large airport, and the concourses are separated by some very long moving walkways. Typically, I do not use moving walkways or escalators. Even though I’m carrying luggage, I’d rather walk; it’s good excercise. However, I [...]

Sometimes, you can create instant social capital to ease your way through a situation. Yesterday, I stood in the TSA security line at San Jose. I fly a whole lot, so I’m personally familiar with the drill. This time, I stood back and people-watched how infrequent travelers dealt with the process of TSA screening. The [...]