Cookie Fortune
Generally speaking, I'm wary of fortune cookies—those bulbous, crescent-shaped tan sugar cookies that often accompany the bill in Chinese restaurants and whose insides purportedly contain glad tidings. My distaste is because often the promised "fortunes" turn out to...
Hmmh???, Part II: A Uh, Clarification…
Earlier this week I wrote about Seraphim, a Greek Orthodox Bishop who made the news recently for blaming - amongst other things - Jewish bankers for the Holocaust. Surprisingly enough Seraphim's comments caused a bit of stir in Greece and abroad, and so several days...
Hmmh???
I like folks who believe strongly in conspiracy theories. I'm not inherently bent towards such thoughts, but whenever I come across them - the stream of myths surrounding the Knights Templar, the never-ending debate about the JFK assassination, NASA on the moon, the...
Crazy, and I’m sorry Joe
One month ago my neighbor Joe was murdered fifty feet up the street from my apartment. Joe lived two houses away. He was 58-years old. Joe liked to smoke cigarettes as he leaned against the fence in the back alley. He had two dogs, Rusty and Jake. Joe had a...
Sesquicentennial
One of the first big polysyllabic words I remember learning as a kid was Sesquicentennial. The word refers to a time period of 150-years (sesqui = one-and-a-half + cetennial = 100). I learned this word when the small town in Michigan where I grew up had its very...
Gay Enough?
Today, Congress finally repealed the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy that had been governing military procedures vis-a-vis homosexuality since 1993. Upon passage of the resolution, Senate leaders called the requisite press conference and began the even-more-requisite...
Sweep the Leg
Imagine you're a young woman attending an R&B concert by Usher. For the song "Trading Places," one of your favorites, Usher calls - of all the thousands of people at that evening's show - you, yes you, from the audience to sit onstage with him as he sings the...
Finished
After several weeks of slogging I finally finished Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon earlier today. 'Slogging' makes it sound like I didn't enjoy myself when I did greatly - large portions of the book were astoundingly beautiful, but at no point during the entire...
Image of the Day
Because I live a somewhat atypical life, occasionally family back in Michigan will ask what I do with my days. Well, today was one for the ages, and if my day could be summarized in one snap-shot, it would be as follows: I woke up a little after 6am with a boiling...
It’s Never A Surprise
In celebration, sort of, for one of those times when having a hangover was really worth it.
Raise A Drink
You won't find many excuses to raise a glass in praise of politicians, but if you're looking for a novel toast this might just be it. Seventy-seven years ago on this day, state and federal legislators came together to do something in the best interests of our...