When filmmaker Sean Kotz emailed five months ago, asking for my cooperation with his project “Strange Country,” I was excited. It was to be a documentary, he explained, on the UFO sightings of 1987-88 in Wythe County, Virginia. I’d heard about these sightings not long before; I had shared a panel … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2012
A UFOlogy for the 21st Century
Here’s a proposition—a UFOlogical proposition. UFOs are a human phenomenon. A UFO sighting, therefore, is not bounded by the sky in which it’s appeared, or seems to have appeared. The observer—better, experiencer—is a part of the sighting. So is everyone who believes in that sighting. So is … [Read more...]
Reincarnation, Quantum Physics, and Dr. Donald Menzel
Some 40 years ago, when I was a graduate student, I came upon a pamphlet by one Dr. Ian Stevenson, entitled something like “Evidence for Reincarnation from Claimed Memories of Former Lives.” I read it; I was impressed by what I recall as its judiciously open-minded approach. I showed it to my … [Read more...]
Ray Bradbury – Prophet of the 21st Century
“I am not a prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son …” —Amos 7:14 None of us is. Doesn’t stop us from trying. For those who write science-fiction, it’s practically a professional obligation. “Terrifyingly prophetic”—aren’t those words you’d love to have on your jacket blurb? I’ve heard them … [Read more...]
If You Knew SUUSI …
No, not "Susie." SUUSI--Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute. It's the one special week each July when UUs (Unitarian Universalists) from far and near converge upon the lovely Radford University campus in Virginia for seven days of learning and hiking, singing and dancing and general … [Read more...]