“What if Earth is the Alabama of the universe?”— Comedian KATHLEEN MADIGAN I was watching the director’s cut of a movie I really love, a movie that makes a similar point as the line by one of my favorite comedians. “The Abyss” is one of James Cameron’s most underrated movies, an undersea adventure in which …
Maybe life on Earth is ‘special’ to other planets Read More »
“Here’s to the land you’ve torn out the heart of, Mississippi find yourself another country to be part of.” It was the summer of 1964, the first one after President Kennedy was murdered in Texas. It was June 21, the day spring turned to summer. It was Freedom Summer, when kids came south to help …
My dad was born and raised in New York City. Brooklyn, in fact, although he was not a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. There were three teams in NYC in those days, and he was a fan of the team that played in the northern part of Manhattan — the New York Giants. I don’t …
“I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” The Democratic Party made a big mistake eight years ago and America had to pay for it. Still paying, in fact. In fact, they might be about to make another mistake that will take our country back into the same horror …
“… crazier than a shithouse rat.” I always thought this vulgarity was a pretty good way of describing someone who was in a situation so repulsive that it drove them crazy. So theoretically, at least, the people being driven crazy would be the folks around Donald Trump, not Trump himself. But it’s clear now if …
I wonder if I will ever learn to stop falling for clickbait on Facebook. First of all, I am usually not their target audience. I’m part of the generation that has been hated by the most people of any American generation — the Baby Boomers. When we grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, when …
What’s going to happen when people stop reading? Read More »
I originally published this in 2009. I reprint it with a few updates. *** “This used to be a hell of a good country.”— Jack Nicholson in “Easy Rider,” 1969 I was reading an entry about restaurant chains that are in danger of going out of business, and one of the ones they mentioned was …
When we think about the days when network television was really intelligent, it’s easy to remember the early days. But from the late 1950s on, the decline began. For all the love Baby Boomers have for “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Brady Bunch,” these were not shows that radiated intelligence. Even modern cable shows we see …
‘Paper Chase’ might have been most unique show ever Read More »
I am fortunate enough to have been to France half a dozen times, although all my visits have always been to Paris and points south. With the exception of a train ride from London to Paris in 2003, I have never been in the northern part of the country. I was the fourth man in …
80 years and a day ago, we were truly at our best Read More »
There was certainly more than one reason my first marriage failed. Certainly one bone of contention was possible names for future male children. To be fair, those discussions never got beyond the realm of joking and whimsy. I had only one absolute no. There was never going to be a child, male or female, in …
