The edits on my memoir have returned, so for the next several weeks, I’ll be focusing on rewrites.  I’ve been working on this book for the past two years and, at the current rate, I fear it may take me longer to draft my recollections of past events than to have lived them.  If

Being 80-something, I get it when Democratic campaigner Joe Biden talks about record players, or President Donald Trump quips he will “tape” a program to view later. Both men are septuagenarian, kids by my reckoning, but old enough to be comfortable with earlier norms. Yes, it may

Recently, someone on Facebook broke into a political discussion to suggest the debate was irrelevant. Life was predetermined and free will didn’t exist. The comment took me back to my undergraduate days as a student of philosophy. Even so, I didn’t reply. I knew kissing my elbow w

I sat down to brunch with friends, recently, a long overdue pleasure. As they were friends, they asked how my memoir was progressing. “Oh,” I  replied, the genre isn’t called a memoir anymore.  It’s referred to as “literary nonfiction.” “What’s the difference?” The

A week ago, I sat down to lunch with two women who are notable because they’ve dedicated themselves to advancing gender equality. The two had never met, so I brought them together to see what synergism might evolve. The meeting went well, a perfect example of women reaching out to s

Who would have imagined writing young adult novels could be dangerous? Even so, writer Jesse Singal contends social media sites have become centers for whisper campaigns against authors who violate a new canon.  The emerging standard requires rigid authenticity. For example, a book a

As the stock market remains choppy, I’ve chosen to shift some money into certificates of deposit.*(CDs) Interest rates for this kind of investment are low, but so is inflation. With a 2% return, I can keep my finances afloat. Recently, my broker recommended I add U. S. Treasuries to

Many of us are shocked to read that in Muslim countries parents may coerce a daughter to marry the man who raped her. As her society blames the female for the shame done to her, she is obliged to save the family’s honor by marrying the man who violated her. In the west, we might con

One of the truest phrases in the English language is “words fail me.”  I use that phrase often when I speak about our 45th president. But politics aside, words do sometimes fail us. Life is too amazing, too deep, too happy, or too sad to be contained by words. Nonetheless, we hum

It’s uncivil of me, I suppose, to pick another quarrel with Amazon. After all, for the past week, the company has been running ads for my book, Heart Land, without a request or payment from me. In fact, that they’re running the ad in tandem The Ninth Hour is flattering.  Of cours