THE LESSON OF OLD AGE John Steinbeck’s segment “The Leader of the People” from his novella “The Red Pony” introduces Jody, a boy of 10, to his maternal grandfather who has come for a visit. Behind his back, Jody’s father complains the old man does nothing but repea

COTTON CANDY DREAMS CAN CAUSE A HANGOVER It’s tough being a girl, I know that. Debora Tolman, a professor at Hunter College and author of “Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls talk About Sexuality,” recently commented on the impact of toddler pageants on the rise in America. Accord

THE COMRADERIE OF THE SHORT DISTANCE WALKER There are many books extolling the merits of walking. Andrew Weil and Mark Fenton co-authored one called “Walking” and I even found “Walking for Dummies.” I wasn’t tempted to buy the latter as I’ve never been smar

THOUGHTS ON ALPHABET SOUP Barbara G. Walker, author of “The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” (1983) has written a new book entitled “Man Made God.” It examines the charges raised against women by the three major religions. Apparently, the prejudices

YOU WIN SOME AND YOU LOSE SOME David McCullough, author, historian and lecturer has a new book out which chronicles the earlier migration of Americans to Paris after World War I. Among the group were artists, industrialists and entrepreneurs — not unlike a later migration that i

CREATIVITY AND THE COSMOS A friend recently wondered if I plotted my writing before I sat down to work. In other words, he was asking, “Do you know where you’re going before you get there?”  I admit when I taught expository writing, I required students to write from an outline

DREAMS AT PLAY AND WHAT THEY COST One of the most powerful works for theater in western literature is August Strindberg’s “Dream Play.” It focuses on the poverty of the human condition and how like a dream life is: a place where cruel events happen without reason or logi

SOMETIMES IT’S BETTER TO LOSE In 2009, Helen Thomas, a 40 year veteran of the White House Press Corp and Craig Crawford, a columnist for Congressional Quarterly’s CQ Politics, collaborated on a book titled “Listen Up, Mr. President.” I know thisbecause I picked up a co

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE NIGHT THE BED FELL  The screenplay for “Thelma & Louise” centers on two women involved with callous men who make their lives miserable. By accident, and partly by choice, they awaken one day to find themselves engaged in a crime spree. As Thelma das

THE MISFITS This morning I looked out my kitchen window to find a crow sitting in the middle of the birdbath. The bird was too large for the receptacle but seemed to refuse to acknowledge this as it continued to sit, fluttering its wings with no hope of stirring the water because the