My 82-year-old teeth surprised me a few weeks ago.  I woke up with a toothache.  Fortunately, the dentist could see me right away. After providing me with a prescription for antibiotics, he set up an appointment with a colleague for my root canal. Naturally, I took the pills but kne

While being interviewed on a local talk show, the moderator asked me to name my heroes.  I admit my mind went blank.  Many people I admire.  Some of them are ordinary folk.  Others have names recognized around the world.   I admire Mahatma Gandhi, for example.  Without firing a

Late one afternoon, a friend came to visit at the retirement center.  He’s a brainy fellow so our conversations often wander into curious places.  At one point, I recall saying I thought human consciousness might be one way the universe keeps track of itself.  I’d meant it as a

When I turned 39, I received my first letter from AARP.  Looking down at the envelope, I was stunned.  Me?  Middle Aged?  There’d been a mistake. If my response seemed melodramatic, then, imagine how I reacted when a crematorium invited me to lunch, recently. My heart stopped. �

I don’t know whether Barbara Ehrenreich is entirely sincere in her new book, Natural Causes.   Gabriel Winant thinks she is and argues the author’s intent is to “refute the idea that it’s possible to control the course and shape of one’s biology or emotional life…”

I’m always of two minds when I write about diet and health.  I don’t want people to feel guilty if they are ill.  But I’d like to give them hope if I can.   Some diseases, like diabetes, can be reversed or prevented with a change in eating habits.  That’s why I am willing

No, it’s not nostalgia.  Life was simpler in the good old days.  Sex for example. When I was growing up, people were either heterosexual or homosexual.  Then male homosexuals and female homosexuals had a falling out and we had three divides: heterosexual, gay and lesbian.  I had

Movies were central to my life as a child.  For ten cents, I could hit the Saturday cartoon matinée and for two hours escape my poverty. Sunday afternoons, mom paid fifty-cents for two tickets to the grown-up flicks.  After that, we had a cheap dinner, probably Chinese, and went ho

Someone on Facebook posted a clip about a woman who’d found an injured bee and decided to take care of it.  In return for her kindness, the creature responded with a trust near to affection.  This cross-species communication opened the woman to a new perspective on life.  (Click)

GlaxoSmithKline has a cure for the “bubble boy” affliction, an ailment that attacks people’s immune systems.  The price tag? $634,000. (Ibid, pg. 22.)   Spark Therapeutics, Inc. has a gene therapy to cure a rare form of childhood blindness. What is the value of gaining one’