If there’s one thing that can be truly heartbreaking, it’s when people don’t even pursue their dreams. It’s one thing to go after something and not get it. It’s far different to decide you probably wouldn’t get it if you tried and then not try at all. I’m not really talking about myself. I got …
I loved living in California. I was born there in the last month of the 1940s, but my parents moved east to Chicago when I was a year old. I knew it was a bad idea and I tried to tell them. Of course I couldn’t get through to them because I didn’t know any …
“He who dies with the most toys, wins.” Why is that? Why do we turn everything into a competition, with winners and losers? Is enough ever enough? And what does it mean anymore to be free, particularly in terms of Americans and their rights? If we start with the Declaration of Independence, we believe that …
Imagine waking up one morning and finding you were all alone. Not just where you live, but everywhere you go. You get into your car and drive through your neighborhood, but you don’t see any other signs of life. You get out onto a main drag, or a freeway, only to see that you are …
From 2014 with minor updates. I was watching two baseball movies — one I’d seen before — and it got me thinking. There are at least six or eight different movies I have heard different people calling the best ever and there are three I’ve had at the top of my own list at one …
“Felix the cat …” What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear those three words? If you are an early baby boomer, you might remember there was a cartoon series by that name that ran from 1958-61. There were 134 episodes, and while I literally have no memory of scenes from any …
This was originally written about 10 years ago, and Dear Lord, things have gotten worse since. (A few updates are in italics) I can’t believe I used to take politics seriously. Now I don’t know if there’s anyone left in Washington I can take seriously at all except for my younger brother, and he’s too …
Jimmy Carter was the first presidential candidate to get my vote who actually won the election. I have voted in 14 presidential elections and the candidates I supported won six times. I suppose that’s not too bad when you realize my candidates lost four of my first five elections. Trumpanzees and other right wingers love …
Twenty-five random facts about myself: 1. If one thing truly surprises me when I look back at the first 75 years of my life, it’s that probably the thing I did better than anything else was being a dad. I never knew my birth father and when my mother remarried and gave me a dad, …
Ten years ago October, I got the worst news of my life. My lovely wife Nicole, who was just 64 at the time, was going through serious cognition problems that had me worried about what some folks call “Oldtimers Disease.” Mike, that’s not what it’s called. you know it’s …” I know the real name. …
It looks like another turn in the road is coming soon Read More »
