Before the internet and Wikipedia, when I needed information, I dialed the reference librarian at my local library.  The materials I needed could be wide-ranging.  How to spell pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is one example.  Or, I might want to know the population of

A woman joined me at the retirement center where I sat drinking coffee and sighed.  “My doctor wants me to lose weight, but I don’t eat that much.  I skip breakfast, have a muffin mid-morning and only sit for a meal at dinner.  Still, I’m gaining weight.”  My companion suf

Before I took my seat on the county board of commissioners, my predecessor was famous for saying, “Figures don’t lie, but liars do figure.” In my experience, he and Mark Twain, to whom the quote is attributed, were wrong  After a year of the budget cycle,  I no longer believed

While sitting with a guest for tea at the retirement center, a gentleman, to whom I’d never spoken, paused by our table.  “You’re the writer, aren’t you?”  As I strive to be one,  I nodded. “ Well, I wanted to tell you about the greatest opening to a novel I’ve ever r

Someone on Facebook asked the question, “What’s the one food you won’t eat.”  I replied, “animals.”  Soon, a few “likes” attached to my comment.  Some vegetarians were cheering me on.  Or, maybe they were folks who wanted eliminate meat from their diet but haven’

In his popular novel, The Overstory, Richard Powers creates a woman who devotes her life to the study of trees.  Her diligence rewards her.  She makes an astounding discovery.  Trees communicate with each other through the air.  Though her research is scrupulous, her male colleagu

Nobody likes a multi-billionaire who stiffs his workers.  Donald Trump accuses Jeff Bezos of greed and Bernie Sanders agrees, suggesting a man who pockets $157 billion a year while his warehouse workers live on food stamps is a man whose conscience is questionable.*  While Trump’s

Institutions of higher learning like to advertise that a college education can add a $1 million to a student’s  lifetime earnings.   Lured by that promise, students blindly assume debt that can last a lifetime.  One thirty-year-old man, who graduated with an MA in Literature, ca

Weaponizing anger is a dangerous game.  Bernie Sanders tried it in the last Presidential election and so did Donald Trump.  Trump did it better and he remains a beacon for those who feel disenfranchised.  What both candidates did was tap into the residue loathing still with us from