By JIM NICHOLS When I was younger and a bit braver, I occasionally climbed onto the roof of our house. Usually, it was to replace or secure a shingle. I was struck by the view from there. The whole neighborhood was visible in a way that is much different than what we might call “ground-level.” The ugly wooden gray fences

By JIM NICHOLS We had a brief snap of winter weather recently—three days of ice, cold, even some snow. It was rather meager compared to other parts of the country, but, for those of us who like winter, it was fine. I was thankful for our good furnace in the house, lots of bed blankets, flannel lined jeans, and my

By JIM NICHOLS I first met my future mother-in-law when I was in high school. She thought I was funny and clever, and I thought the same about her. As I hung around the house for years pursuing her daughter, we developed two questions/statements we would make to each other. Each elicited a predictable response.  My statement to her was

By JIM NICHOLS Odors or aromas are apparently closely connected to our brain memory centers. Popcorn may connect us quickly to some sports event. Freshly baked cookies may transport us back to another time and place in our family. One whiff of mimeograph ink and I am sitting at a wooden desk in a school classroom again. Mimeograph ink? What

By JIM NICHOLS It was raining at recess time for the second day in a row. Yesterday the fourth-graders had to play some sort of inside game in the room and now, it appeared, that was going to happen again. The teacher proposed the same game as yesterday and added an alternate. There was brief class discussion of the options

By JIM NICHOLS I taught a biology majors seminar class for many semesters targeted at students in their senior year of college. One of my favorite questions to ask them was to identify the person most responsible for determining their academic major and direction. That is, “Why are you a biology major? What or who slanted you here?” As one

By JIM NICHOLS It was a conference organized like many other conferences. A parade of speakers came to the podium to present papers dealing with a particular area of interest to the participants. The conference organizers had supplied a meeting room, a screen and projector, and a computer connected to the projector. Each new presenter inserted his or her flash

By JIM NICHOLS Perhaps this might make more sense if I write it out; sometimes that seems to help. I am thinking about how it is possible to be by yourself even though you are surrounded by humanity. My scientific background combines with my social consciousness to cause me to recycle physical material when possible. My current community has not

By JIM NICHOLS This is not really a sports story, although a sports comment was the stimulus for it. As I am writing this, it is the college football “bowl season.”  Teams have played their regular season games and the supposedly best teams now have a bonus game, a bowl game. When I was younger, there were just a few