In the early days of silent movies, story lines were pretty simple. They always offered adventure and romance, always employed stock characters (good guys, bad guys, and damsels in distress), and were often told as familiar Westerns. Stories set in the wild west were popular… Read More
Letters. Gifts of thought for an audience of one — you. Neither as transient as a phone call nor as expedient as an e-mail nor as perfunctory as a text message, a personal hand-written letter is valued precisely because it isn’t technological, because it… Read More
From September, 1994, to May, 2004, a very popular, award-winning television sitcom aired on NBC called “FRIENDS.” It was about six friends in their early 20s and 30s who lived in Manhattan and it followed the ups and downs of their daily lives..… Read More
I have always been a worrier, perhaps because I have always lived for the future. Plans, goals, benchmarks all dominated my thinking for many, many years, not only for myself, but for my family, my students, and my colleagues. I was so goal oriented… Read More
Here we are again at the “intermezzo” of the year, before old becomes new again. We’re eating leftovers from Christmas, picking up all the trash, putting away dishes and gifts (if any), and settling down to write some notes, review the year, and yes —… Read More
November 13 is World Kindness Day, and the whole week of November 13-19 is Kindness Week. No doubt you’ve heard of “random acts of kindness,” such as paying for a stranger’s cup of coffee or leaving money for someone’s groceries in line behind you.… Read More
I have always loved the sky. My father did too. Having been an Army Air Corps flight instructor during WWII, he became a commercial airline pilot afterward. His passion was planes and flying. When I was little — I mean really little, like 4 or… Read More
According to MIT Professor Richard Larsen who studies such things, Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours a year waiting. Yes, I said “waiting.” A 2022 consumer survey, “The State of Waiting In Line” (on waitwhile.com) identified waiting in retail check-out lines as the most common… Read More
The first notice came in our community newsletter enclosed with the monthly water bill. The local contract for waste removal was expiring and had to be renegotiated. Of course garbage fees would be going up (isn’t everything?), but residents had choices that could… Read More
My husband and I just spent a few days in New Orleans. The City is special for us because we first met there, later honeymooned there, and have returned many, many times over the years to celebrate our wedding anniversary in July. Yes, we usually… Read More
