Love’s Labor Lost?

Labor Day is the last, long weekend of summer and a signal that it’s time to get back to work….that is if one has work, which takes us to the… Read More

Flirting

At a dinner party several years ago, a woman of a certain age introduced herself to me and initiated an artful flirtation that eventuated in a warm friendship, not just… Read More

The Sadness of Earbuds

Earbuds?  Nonsense, when I was young, we couldn’t fit our stereo system in a 16-foot truck, much less our ears. Admittedly, we had a sound re-enforcement company that provided sound… Read More

Balancing Self-interest and Community Interest

All tax codes have winners and losers. Overtime, different classes of taxpayers advocate steadily for self-serving changes that eventually complicate and corrode the tax system. Legislators call these various deductions… Read More

Change is Not Progress

Recently, I was having breakfast with a friend who has just returned from yet another country where he routinely explains to presidents and prime ministers how to establish telecommunications networks… Read More

Did He Pass or Did He Die?

The father of a dear friend died last month. In relaying the news to me, he said his father had “passed.” My mind immediately sought a grammatical object, knowing full… Read More

The Blame Game

There’s a lot to be saddened about in the BP disaster. The damage to the gulf and shoreline may take a generation to recover, the economic loss to the region,… Read More

Ah, Mother

It’s time to think about Mother again. And then will come Father’s Day.  For many of us, it’s bittersweet to revisit our mothers and fathers, either in person or in… Read More

Our Schools, Ourselves

We are in a six-passenger compartment on the eight-hour train ride from Marrakesh to Fez. It is like a small ensemble theater company that will change characters as we move… Read More

The Courage of the Nuns

Well, the bishops have their vestments in a twist again, as if they hadn’t created enough problems for themselves, swearing the victims of their colleagues’ sexual predations to secrecy. In… Read More

Progress and Change

I’m having breakfast with a friend who has just returned from yet another country where he routinely explains to presidents and kings how to establish functioning telecommunications networks, or to… Read More

Media Narcosis

To talk or to listen, that is the question. The shrill chaos of a million tweets, blogs and call-in cable and radio shows has entranced us with the sounds of… Read More