Sitting down to lunch with my broker, his conversation turned to an old worry. “The national debt keeps growing.  Congress has to reign it in.” “What’s your solution?” I asked before taking a sip of coffee. “Should children of low-income families go without lunch?  Shoul

Language, which is vital to humankind, can take us down many paths some of which lead to self-delusion.  I learned this lesson in a philosophy class years ago in college. The professor opened the session with a simple question.  “Who can define the word chair for me?”  Eager to

Last week I attended a play with two delightful residents from my retirement center.  The performance was wonderful and when we returned home, after walking the distance of a single street, we were in good spirits and ready for a peaceful night’s rest.  In my youth, after a perfor

Surrounded by books in a well-trafficked bookstore, I sat down to coffee with a former student.  We’ve been meeting this way for many years.  By now, he is in his early 70s while I am staring down at 87.  Happily, we are both in robust health, and I always look forward to our con

Henry David Thoreau’s, Waldon Pond was assigned reading in my undergraduate years but I managed to avoid the book.  Not until my 70s when I was recuperating from surgery did  I turn to it and then, only because it was the one volume I could reach without getting out of bed.  I fl

A recent article on scams in Writer Beware has prompted me to write the following disclaimer. None of my blogs are written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence (AI). Google helps me with research and an editing program checks my content for technical errors. Everything else is

After a brief meeting with a woman I’d just met, I returned to my apartment and was surprised to find her email waiting for me.  She accused me of having been rude and wasted no time in telling me. Bemused, I shrugged, having had the same impression of her. The difference between u

“Suicide,” someone murmured after reading the announcement that a woman had died at the retirement center. “She was estranged from her family,” said another who stood beside the first speaker. Her remark rang true because the death notice asked that no condolences be left for

My essay below first appeared in the ebook magazine Women Writers, Women’s Books on July 27, 2020.  This is a reprint of that article.   EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELL “Everyone has a story to tell,” said the woman seated opposite me at my retirement center. Somewhere in her 80s

“I think my mind just exploded.” Those were a subscriber’s words after reading my blog, The Time Travelers.  I knew the compliment didn’t refer to my writing skills. It was a response to the content. The topic was about advances in science and Artificial Intelligence. (AI). I