TEACH A LION TO LAUGH?  NOT NECESSARY I’m reading a novel set during the time of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to universal suffrage. Like so many books about this country, “Skinner’s Drift” by Lisa Fugard, paints a stark picture of exotic terrains that s

DO I CONTRADICT MYSELF?  I picked up another book at the Dollar Store a while ago, though I didn’t crack it open until yesterday. I bought it because it carried a seal on the cover designating it as a 2006 “Notable Book” by the “New York Times.” I try not to be a sn

DR. OZ AND GINKGO AND ASTRAGULUS … OH MY! Being 75 and living alone with only a 95 year-old-mother as my nearest relative, I spend a good deal of time reading about the aging process and how to stay healthy. Like most seniors I know, I want to remain independent for as long as I can

ILLUMINATION FOR A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT Cozy mystery novels are my favorite companions during the long winter months.  Fortunately, there are many writers in this genre, more than I have time to read, in fact. But when I find an author I especially like, I make a practice of reading

THOUGHTS ON FREEDOM AND HUMILITY A recent news article on Yahoo (1/3/12) reported that given global warming, certain animal species are adapting to the change. Notably, cold and warm water sharks have begun to mate with one another, creating a new strain capable of existing in a wider

A TALE HALF TOLD I’ve just finished reading one of my book finds from the Dollar Store, Don DeLillo’s “Point Omega.” Normally, I wouldn’t identify the author of a work I didn’t like but DeLillo is a National Book Award winner so I’m certain my pale criticism will

ST THOMAS AQUINAS CAN BE FOUND AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE PUBLIC TOILETS A couple of days ago I was browsing through my local Barnes & Nobel bookstore, looking for the paperback edition of “Cleopatra” by Stacy Schiff. The cost of the hardback was astronomical so I’d plan

It appears that my blog for Sunday “Let Freedom Roar,” did not make it onto blog site.  Instead a reply from a reader made it instead. I will try to correct this shortly.

With women gradually outnumbering men on this country and in the work place, it is only a matter of time that they will be a majority in the political sphere.  Let us hope that they will refuse to take men as their model for performance.  If not, I can already hear the strangled, ou

On Sunday, January 22, 2012, a special blog will appear on this page where I join with NOW and NARAL and bloggers across the nation to celebrate the 39th anniversary of the Surpreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade.  I invite my friends on Facebook to read it; I invite my fell