Talent is an amazing thing. Not everyone has it, and some who do fail to cultivate it enough to turn it into something really special. I’m sad to say I probably fall into the second category. There were certainly things I enjoyed doing and were somewhat good at, but there’s only one thing at which …
When you look at the true weirdos in government, most of them are usually far away from where we live. When I was growing up in Ohio and Virginia in the 1950s and ’60s, most of the beyond-the-pale types were either down south (anti-civil rights) or way out west (the John Bircher types). Not that …
I’m a sucker for click-bait quizzes on Facebook, but one thing that always annoys me is when they claim to be tough and then aren’t. I’ll read that only 10 percent of people can pass a test and then I’ll get 59 of 60 right. Most of them are fairly stupid. They’ll show you a …
About 10 years ago, I was reading Vanity Fair in a doctor’s waiting room and I came across the leading man interviews with George Clooney, Matt Damon and Daniel Craig. Interesting men all, but the really fascinating part was the questions, apparently an interview format developed by Marcel Proust. Or was it his brother Bob? …
I just finished reading a very sad book, and it left me with some fairly pessimistic feelings about the future of our country. And now that I’ve finished the book, I’ll probably watch the movie. I doubt it will make me feel much better. “Nomadland” is the story of a phenomenon that goes far too …
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” This isn’t the most famous verse from the Bible, or even from the book of John, but John 15:13 says more about love and sacrifice than just about anything else. What’s the greatest possible form of heroism? Risking …
Back in 2002, I started seeing a therapist. We took a while to get into issues at were affecting my life at the time. In fact, I think we spent the first six sessions with me telling my life story and her listening. At the end of the story, she came out with one thought. …
If there is one thing relatively certain about Tuesday’s verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, it’s that many people will overreact to it. It certainly seems right that Chauvin was convicted on all three counts arising from the death of George Floyd last year. But saying it is some sort of turning point in our …
If there is one thing I would love to change about my childhood — and there are certainly many things — I wish I had been more interested in other people. I was probably at least a few steps on the good side of sociopathy, which is not a term I throw around lightly, I …
“There’s plenty good money to be made, supplyin’ the army with the tools of the trade …” When Country Joe McDonald, who may or may not have ever had a farm, first recorded “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die” in 1965, the song had nothing to do with Afghanistan. We might have been crazy …
