Sometimes the burden of lifting women’s status around the world seems too great to achieve.  Still no alternative exists but to try.  In some countries large numbers of women are little more than slaves.  This is the case for North Korean women when they are caught trying to reac

The government wants people to work into their 70s to relieve social security’s debt obligations.  But doing so has numerous effects, most dramatically on the young.  When older workers prolong their employment, younger ones can’t find jobs or are forced to take those with low w

Brain training with games,  I wrote in an earlier blog, (Blog 9/17/15) showed little evidence the activity could make our thinking sharper.  The skills learned weren’t transferable to other activities, the argument went.   Despite these conclusions, some researchers continued wi

Aging is a stealth process.  We hardly recognize it’s at work until we see surprise in the eyes of someone we’ve bumped into after many years.  “You’re Caroline Miller, aren’t you?”  Have I changed so much, I wonder. Apparently I have.  Come to think of it, so has the

An article popped up on my computer the other day which suggested we live in a Matrix. Like the film by the same name, our lives may be no more than a dream which we are allowed to think is real. (Click) A few scientists have given the idea enough credence to propose experiments to d

Heart Land is a fictional memoir of a bright and reckless boy growing up in rural Ohio in 1939, at the close of the Depression and before America’s entrance into World War II.  Ockley Green is a sleepy farming community where a kid with an active imagination is as likely to trick h

This morning a notice from Amazon popped up on my screen. The message said a customer had liked my review of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Buried Giant  but made no mention of whether or not he or she actually bought the book. (Blog 5/5/15)  Next I was reminded I’d written 13 reviews on Amaz

I came across an excerpt from Barbara Ehrenreich’s latest book, Living with a Wild God, recently.  (“Zapped by the Invisible World,” The Baffler, Vol. 25, 2014, pg. 13.)  I’ve  never read her any of her works but this segment spoke to my interest in mystical experiences. Sh

A funny thing happened on the way to the theater the other night.  A friend was driving and while we sped along the darkened streets, she admitted her vision wasn’t as good as it used to be.  Like me, she’s in her 70’s so I wasn’t surprised by her confession but noted it was

Pooh Bear Demystified Socrates observed that man is a social animal. If I’d have been his contemporary, I’d have added the words, “who likes a story.”  When a journalist writes, “First the king died and then the queen died,” we have an article. When an author writes, “F