“The world is made for people who aren’t cursed with self awareness.” I always thought that was one of the best lines from one of my favorite movies. Susan Sarandon nearly always played memorable characters, and Annie Savoy in “Bull Durham” was one of the best. I saw it at one of the least stressful …
Repressed anger is one of life’s nasty surprises Read More »
“Up until the 1950s, American children yearned for adulthood. When their time came to be adults, they stepped into the role proudly, leaving childhood behind and taking up the mantles of responsibility, honor and dignity. They embraced and championed the ideals of those who came before them while valiantly tackling new ideas and problems that …
In our toxic political century, we’ve been hearing a lot about the Original Intent of the Founding Fathers, who we now just call the Founders (even though they were all men). Original Intent is important to conservatives, who seem to believe that such wonderful things happened in the late 18th Century that we should do …
When historians study the inaugural addresses delivered by presidents either taking office or continuing in office, they look for memorable themes and phrases. Perhaps the most memorable — and the most tragic — was on March 4, 1865, when Abraham Lincoln spoke just before the end of the Civil War about putting things back together. …
In the course of nearly 25 years of school, I managed to come across some teachers with some odd gimmicks. In the mid ’70s, when I was trying to get my mojo back taking some junior college courses, I signed up for Sociology 101 and met a teacher who gave the final exam on the …
I wrote this about 10 years ago and came across it recently. I’m reposting it because it may have been the very best action I took in my entire career and it made a real difference in someone’s life. I wrote the other day about my two years in Greeley, Colorado, and what they meant …
I never understood the logic behind remaking movies. Oh, I understand it from a financial standpoint. If a movie is popular, then a remake of it has a built-in audience. And there is certainly a history of some great stories being told again and again in Old Hollywood — “Quo Vadis,” “The Four Feathers,” even …
The only way Jack Sawyer could have become more of a legend in Ohio State football would be if the play he made Friday night in the Cotton Bowl had happened against the School Up North. With Texas on the verge of scoring and tying the national semifinal game late in the fourth quarter, Sawyer …
What’s the very best thing about being alive? I’m not sure there is a bigger, more open-ended question than that, but I’m going to make it a little easier by eliminating an entire category. Just as Jean-Paul Sartre said, “Hell is other people,” I’m going to ask the question without including interpersonal relationships. After all, …
So much sadness. I wrote yesterday that I was born in Southern California — San Diego, to be exact — and while I never really lived there as a child, I spent the first half of my life dreaming of returning to California to live someday. I lived there from 1990 to 2010, and the …
