Of late, I’ve been wondering if I’ve gone to sleep and awakened to find myself in another dimension. The thawing of conservative attitudes has overwhelmed my powers of belief. Yet the thawing is real and I see glimpses of a glorious world forming. Iran and the West have agreed to

“Consuming the world is not the same as understanding it.” So writes Charles King in, “The Decline of International Studies,” (Foreign Affairs, July/August 2015 pg.92.) The United States leads in technology and data mining, which includes NSA and private companies like Datamin

The United States is both practical and idealistic writes Siva Vaidhyanathan as he paraphrases the conclusions of Thorstein Veblen, a sociologist and economist who wrote at the turn of the 20th century.   Almost from the start, our educational system represented those polarities: Ha

The trick to make something old seem new again is to describe it using different words. The world will be mesmerized by the novelty. The ploy worked for Andy Warhol’s soup cans and made him a fortune. To be honest, I don’t believe there’s been a new idea in literature since Thea

“All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare wrote and with the advent of social media, his words couldn’t be truer. So many comedians exist on the internet that late night television shows have hired as writers some of Twitter’s leading lights. (“Satirized for Your Consumption,

What a piece of work is man?   Seen from outer space, we homo sapiens, dwelling on the third planet from a middling sun, appear to be unique in that we are conscious.   Our imagination is limitless and we use it to alter our environment for the benefit of our species.  Over time,

I came across statistics published in the July/August 2015 edition of Mother Jones that left me wanting to laugh and cry simultaneously. Certainly, I was reminded of the British comedy, The Mouse That Roared, starring Peter Sellers. Sellers played thae prime minister of the duchy of G

I’m surprised at the age difference among readers of this blog. 20% are Millennials and I’m glad they’re with me, but as I often discuss topics about aging, I’m curious to know why they follow me. Millennials are a savvy generation, forward in their thinking and active in sol

I’ve devoted a few blogs to the notion that literature is a gateway to truth and human understanding. (Blog 8/14/15) Regrettably, books of history, biography and science sell better than fiction because too many believe the latter is frivolous and unworthy of a serious mind. Mario V

Recently, a young woman on my Facebook page won a writing contest. She’s been struggling, like most writers, to get her voice heard. Winning the contest was validation of her talent. But why did she succeed now where in the past, she’d faced rejections? The difference this time, I