Columnists, In Person

December 2nd, 2024

When we knew for certain

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Remember when we knew for certain that the moon would always follow us if we kept looking at it through the side window of the car? “Keep looking,” Mom said, “and it will...

November 1st, 2024

Along the path

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

There is a short time between the end of summer and the beginning of fall when the best of both seasons combines to create a perfect day. If you believed in heaven, it’s the...

October 1st, 2024

Why Words Matter in Life and Politics

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

If ever there were any doubt that words matter, the July assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the killing of an innocent bystander as well as the shooter provide more...

September 7th, 2024

When we learned to listen: The legacy of Elvin Semrad

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Over more than three decades of writing this column, from time to time, I have quoted Dr. Elvin Semrad whom I briefly described as “the late Boston psychoanalyst.” I...

July 29th, 2024

Some things I learned along the way

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

If it’s true that the biggest surprise you’ll ever have is to realize that you’ve grown old, then the second biggest is to believe that you have learned something useful...

July 1st, 2024

Reflections on Totality

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Words are the first to go.

When all that is left of the sun is a circle of light surrounding the black disk of the moon, you are reduced to simple instructions and...

June 3rd, 2024

Remembering Dan Wakefield

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

When acclaimed author Dan Wakefield passed away on March 13, the world lost a voice of compassion and conscience, and I lost a kind and generous mentor. Dan was a journalist,...

May 1st, 2024

Limping with the bulls: A psychologist tests the market

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Things are quiet this morning and my heart is beating at its usual steady rate. The adrenaline that was coursing through my body yesterday at this time has subsided with the...

March 29th, 2024

Psychologists and poets

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Apri is National Poetry Month, and psychologists everywhere are writing poetry.
With Wordsworth they are recollecting intense emotion in tranquility
and helping...

March 4th, 2024

My life with telescopes

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

“You have a telescope! Use it much? What can you see? Can we take it outside and look at the moon?”...