Suprise Me

I never knew my grandparents. They died long before I was born. My father died before he could describe them to me. Given the circumstances surrounding his time with them, I doubt that he could have told me much. Therefore, my fact-or-fiction report springs from primary source materials including pictures, letters, and newspaper articles and… Read More

At 53, if someone had asked me who Vincent Van Gogh was, I’d have said, “he’s the guy who cut off his ear.” Shortly after my first divorce, I took a lady on a date to the Getty; see some art and go to dinner. We looked at paintings of famous old dead men and… Read More

I usually begin my day with a cup of coffee and a microdose of psilocybin. A microdose is defined as 80 micrograms of the carefully grown and prepared mushroom. I also take a dropper full of lion’s mane, a mushroom that, like psilocybin, has restorative properties in the cognitive realm. Eighty micrograms is a holistic… Read More

I shouldn’t be surprised that I now have such problematic arthritis in my toes that I’ve needed two surgeries in six years. It began when I was a child. My chiropodist had me wear arch supports in my shoes and walk up and down the hallway of my Detroit house, doing special exercises to try… Read More

“Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters.” This 1954 Irving Berlin song was sung by Rosemary Clooney in the movie White Christmas, and my sisters and I learned to sing it at an early age. And we are devoted, it’s not just a song lyric. I feel incredibly lucky to have my two sisters. As I… Read More

Other than possibly a bicycle I got for Christmas when I was 11 or 12 years old, I cannot recall any gift I ever received as being so special that I’ve kept it, or remembered one so fondly that I’d consider it my best ever.  It might just be that I did not pay enough… Read More

Mean, malicious, or mendacious? Just plain fun? To advance a personal agenda? What qualifies? Some rumors serve a noble end. In an unnamed presidential administration, White House staffers discovered to their dismay that only truly important people were invited to the annual Christas party, with invitees limited to high level, close to the Oval Office… Read More

Stressed, unhappy parents create stressed, unhappy children. Read More

Being first born, I got to do things first. Generally an advantage, but not always. Read More

I would be remiss in my discussion of the Newark Public Library if I did not mention Philip Roth's novella Goodbye Columbus. Read More