There was a time when we looked askance at granola crunchers who wore Birkenstocks and socks--they made some effort at respectability even then--but that's all in the past now. Somehow Nietzsche became new age, and Robert Louis Stevenson a herald from Ecclesiastes. If you read the side of a Sleepytime tea box, you'll see a quote from Nitch to the effect that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So you are meant to sip at your Sleepytime--careful not to let anything slip or drip between the cup and the lip--and therewith drain the day of all ambition, comforting your gray hairs with the realization that you have addressed stress effectively and somehow survived the yoga stretch. Not to be forgotten in this context is Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Granola, which features, on an inside flap a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson--Don't judge a day by how much you reap, but by how many seeds you sew/ Somehow Stevenson is broadcasting for the New Age variation o...

Give us this Day is the online creative journal of Kurtis Kitagawa, PhD (Edinburgh), MPhil (Oxford), MA (Chicago), BA First Class Honours (Calgary), who, withal, considers himself a student of history. Check daily for freshly composed essays and offbeat creative writing inspired by a life spent in universities, government, and business. Job offers gratefully accepted. Alternative facts welcome, and will not be burned. Nor will their ashes be used as eye shadow!