Guest columnist Gene Stamell: Spoons, forks and living a good life

['Gene Stamell', 'Scott Merzbach', 'Phyllis Lehrer', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width'] Amherst Bulletin 2025-09-16 00:00:00

But if you haven’t gotten around to it yet, be prepared to have your world turned upside down: 43 forks, 36 spoons. 43 forks, 36 spoons! Forks, spoons, and knives were stored in separate drawers, one for dairy, the other for meat, maybe 20-or-so of each utensil in each drawer. Philosophers and scholars in the field agree that a good person is someone who embodies compassion, honesty, empathy, and kindness. So, I remind myself, despite my (many) flaws, I must be a good person, big footprint and all.