Welcome to Jeff’s Journal, where musings, memories, and meaningful moments sometimes converge. Here you’ll find my reflections on life, observations from the road, and the occasional philosophical rabbit hole. Glad you’re here!
2025-01-25 The Fall Begins: Bearing Witness to Democracy’s Decline
The first post of my new Series, "The Fall," meant to discuss the decline of democracy in our country and ...
A Brief Introduction to Crypto Currency
A brief introduction to cryptocurrency. Consider this a primer ...
After the Fall (post-election)
Me, trying to deal with the aftermath of emotions following Trump's win ...
July 2024 Catching Up!
In this post I describe the experience I had ingesting magic mushrooms for the first time in 50 years ...
Remembering Tommy Johnson – A Friend for Life
A memorial to my life-long friend, Tommy Johnson, from Duluth, Minnesota ...
Catching Up!
Wow, it’s been more than a month since my last blog post. I guess a lot has been going on, ...
They Don’t Necessarily Know What They Are Talking About!
The following is another anecdote from my childhood This one has to do with the time I had a grade ...
The Boy in the Window
If you are anything like me, you probably have some occasional childhood memories that pop, unbidden, into your head from ...
The Dune Litany, Re-purposed!
If you're a Dune fan like me, you've read most of the books and watched the movies, old and new, ...
Are Religion and Science Incompatible?
I say, “Yes! And Ne’er the Twain Will Meet!”[i] Some might read the title of this post and think, “That’s ...
How Did I End Up in Duluth?
The way my grandmother told it, is that she was at home in Duluth one day when she got a ...
Introducing Jeff’s Journal
Greetings! While I have been writing some about my passions, like philosophy, science and travel, I have been wanting to ...
How I Got the Surname of Drake
"I have been working on my family history for over 30 years now. That’s a long time, and I’m forced ...
Something Happened
I have a photo of me with my mother in the hospital where I was born. She looks happy. I’m ...
“And All Her Bearing Gracious” (1 of 2)
This is a beginning, I think. I imagine that I will be writing more about my mother, Mary Ellen Drake ...
Am I an Atheist or an Agnostic? Explain Please!
For those who may be curious how I lost religion and gained common sense ...
In Memory of Jim Duff
Please note: In 2010 I was invited to be a speaker at a wake in Indianapolis for one of the ...
“And All Her Bearing Gracious” (2 of 2)
Well, I called Part 1 of my mother’s saga, And All Her Bearing Gracious, “a beginning,” and sadly, this looks ...
A Blast From the Past
This post is a copy of a paper I wrote as a freshman in college in 1972. Actually, it was ...
When the World Was Young
When all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green; And every goose a swan, lad, And ...
On Being Alone
I recently exchanged emails with a friend about an idea that has been bouncing around in my mind - that ...
In defense of philosophy
Let’s face it. Many of us have been here before. Your child has entered college and is figuring out what ...
Worth thinking about!
While searching through material I've written over the years, I came across one of my very first philosophy papers written ...