As a student of American history — particularly political history — it’s fascinating to see how people saw things at different times. The chart above appeared in the November 1st, 1948, edition of Life magazine, just before the 1948 presidential election. It didn’t include Harry Truman, who was president at the time, or the two …
Whether or not it was a blessing, for most of my life I looked younger than I was. I had friends who were growing beards by their early 20s. Not only couldn’t I do that, I was in my early 30s before I had to shave more than two or three times a week. I …
Her name was Chrissie and she was the first girl I ever really loved. The time we had together was wonderful — I was 20, she was 18 — and did so much for me, although the way it ended might have been the one thing that knocked my life off track for good. Before …
Picking the worst time possible to be a tough guy Read More »
There aren’t many major American cities I haven’t at least passed through in 76 years. In fact, when I look at the list of the 50 largest cities by population as of 2024, there are only five I haven’t at least seen and two of them are in Arizona. The only one of the top …
It was April 19, 1975, and I was at a wedding reception. A friend had put together what we now call a mix tape, and the song playing at that moment was Jackson Browne’s “Ready or Not.” The song is about a young man learning that his live-in girlfriend is pregnant, and it was a …
If there was one thing I never figured would happen to me, it’s that I would wind up in assisted living. For one thing, it’s expensive. The cost here is significantly more than my pretax annual income in my career as a poorly paid journalist. For another, I didn’t really have a choice as to …
“Quiet! Quiet, piggy!” On Air Force One recently, Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey asked President Trump about the release of Epstein files that might involve Trump. The President of the United States snapped at her: “Quiet! Quiet, piggy.” It would be easy to just say well, that’s our Trump. There has certainly never been another …
Oops. After five years of posting regularly — more than 1,200 pieces — I hit the wall in late August. I stopped posting for a while and before I knew it, nearly three months had passed. There have been at least 15 different times that I had a subject in mind, told myself I would …
My daughter Pauline is at the age where she is right in the middle of things, raising her children and also looking out for her elderly parents. Of the two, her mother and I probably are the tougher job. Nicole and I are both 75, and she is already in a memory care unit at …
In the end, it’s about running the race to the end Read More »
Some years back, I had a friend who had the same dream as millions of other American boys. He wanted to be the next Mickey Mantle, and even though he never played for his high school team, he was apparently impressive enough in summer baseball that the Baltimore Orioles offered him a contract to play …
ASU’s Martinez has friends, family rooting for him Read More »
