Marcel Proust once wrote, “We live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom: our body.” (3Quarks Daily, 5/30/2013) How right he was. Of the number of cells in our anatomy only 10% are human. The rest are microbes. (“Happy Microbes, Skinny Jeans,” by Moises Ve

Almost everyone’s complaining about the high cost of college tuition, but little is being done about it. Worse, writer Jeff Madrick takes a hard look at the value of a college degree given that institutions of higher learning are being forced to “operate much more like ordinary co

I have a Facebook acquaintance who attempts to pass for a curmudgeon but I have unmasked him. He’s an optimist. He’s like a man standing on the roof of a tall building, threatening suicide, secretly hoping to be rescued. True pessimists sit behind locked doors and quit eating.  O

I sat down to tea with a woman who’d retired recently. She was the daughter of a dear friend, now deceased, and so we walked down memory lane together, recollecting her mother’s life as a homemaker. As the 93rd anniversary of the Women’s Rights Amendment (August 18, 1920) had ju

A while ago, I wrote about a former neighbor who suffered with paranoid schizophrenia. On her good days we had wonderful conversations. She was a gifted poet and had earned a M.A. in Fine Arts from a prestigious university. On her bad days, she knew my door was open if she wanted my h

In 1947, before I was a teenager, I saw a movie, Good News, staring June Allyson and Peter Lawford. The story was the traditional one about a college football hero who meets a librarian and decides to sweep her off her size 3 shoes. Allyson is reluctant, at first, and rebuffs Lawford

Not long ago I entered my Facebook “friends” list to delete the name of someone I’d known for years but who had died. His photograph on the website showed him looking vibrant and happy, so it was difficult for me to hit the delete button. If I did, I felt I’d be responsible fo

I ran across a footnote in a magazine the other day that provided some stunning information.  FBI Agents gave their informants permission to break the law at least 5658 time is 2011, authorizing everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plot

In the 1970’s one of my jobs as head of my union was to lobby the legislature on education bills. My first time out I met with the Oregon Speaker of the House, and she didn’t mince words. Instead of waiting for me to explain my legislation, she asked, “Who’s your opposition?�

I’ve been invited to be a panelist at a women’s conference in November. Four generations of participants will discuss how the women’s movement has changed their lives. I represent the past, of course, so I decided to refresh my memory by rereading Betty Friedan’s seminal book,