Carl Ficks

The Weminuche Wilderness. 500,000 acres of pristine land in Colorado, roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island. I was on top of it, standing 12,688 feet above sea level on Table Mountain, staring slack jawed at a herd of elk in a valley below. Why was I there? Because I followed my brother-in-law […]

The northern white rhinoceros. Extinct. Or nearly so. The Amur leopard too. And so is the art of listening. There’s an Augustinian phrase, “audi alteram partem,” It means “listen to the other side.” In the current environment, how many people are listening to the other side? I graduated from law school in 1988 and have practiced law for

In 1951, Hemingway penned The Old Man and the Sea. The story’s protagonist, an old fisherman named Santiago, had gone 84 days without catching a fish. Undeterred, he set off in his skiff on a solo journey and hooked an 18-foot marlin weighing an estimated 1,500 pounds. Santiago fought the fish for days and when he finally harpooned

The face of an old woman? Or the face of a young lady? The mind can play tricks, preventing you from seeing what is, or always has been, right in front of you. George Carlin once quipped, “some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that’s twice

Do you want to be an influencer? If the answer is yes, remember this: The content of your speech matters more than the number of words that come out of your mouth. And…less is more. Merriam-Webster defines an “influencer” as “a person who inspires or guides the actions of others.”  But what does “influencer” really mean? I

Do you feel like you’re pushing the same damn huge rock up a hill every single day?  (Only to have it roll back to the bottom while you’re not looking… and occasionally it rolls right over you and crushes you?) Well, you’re not alone.  In fact, way back when, the Greeks told the story of

We all have piles… Piles of bills…Piles of obligations…Piles of yard work…Piles of stress…Piles of homework…Piles of anxiety…Piles of sh**… well you get the idea… In normal times, it’s hard enough to deal with all those piles.  But right now…it’s even harder.  I had the good fortune of playing high school football for “Coach P,”

He died 5 weeks before race day. But I needed him that morning. I needed his encouragement. I needed his care. In the predawn darkness, I listened to my dad’s voice… to the voice message he’d left me just before I’d run the Boston Marathon the prior year. “Run well.” “Take good care.” Because, you

One of the most iconic psychedelic rock songs is “White Rabbit,” written by Grace Slick and released after she joined Jefferson Airplane in 1966. An exquisite bolero, “White Rabbit” reaches a fever pitch in the fourth and final verse when Grace plaintively wails “When logic and proportion. Have fallen sloppy dead.”  Today, logic and proportion

I have a dirty four-letter word for you that I want you to use. Often…  …. like every single day right now. If you’re an endurance athlete… and you’ve been training for an event that’s been cancelled or postponed… you’re likely feeling pretty frustrated… sad… bereft. I get it…  But… there’s that four letter word