Many years ago, when I headed a teachers’ union, I took on as my responsibilities not only the handling of members’ grievances but, where I could, I addressed their well-being, too. On one occasion I made grocery deliveries once a week to a single woman who was confined to her bed

Hamlet marveled, “What a piece of work is man,” but that isn’t the half of it.  Two new books are out which talk about man’s place in the universe, both reviewed by Tim Flannery in Harper’s.  Dian Ackerman, whose affinity for understanding nature is undisputed by most,

Recently, a reader shared an article with me by Gail Collins from the New York Times. (Click)  Collins was ranting about the plight of working women who are pregnant.  In one case, a female employee working at Wal-Mart’s was fired for carrying a bottle of water on the job in an ef

With the holiday season come and gone, it’s nice to know the period was marked by a little peace on earth.  Hachette, 4th largest publishing house in the United States, and Amazon settled their long standing dispute over the selling price for eBooks. (Blog 9/25/14)  The question i

During the interval between casting “Woman on the Scarlet Beast” and rehearsals, I moved to a retirement center. Much of the time, I spent unpacking boxes and attempting to restore normalcy to a life I had deliberately uprooted.  Among my goals was to revive friendships that had

Recently, I arranged for a taxi to take me to an evening event.  Having called early in the morning, I didn’t anticipate any problems, but when the time set for my pick up passed and no cab was in sight, I dialed the company’s number to see what had gone wrong.  The reply I rece

“Fastidious distaste for the roughness and meanness of political life may work in a seminar room, but it’s fatal on the campaign trail.” So writes Michael Ignatieff who teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School and had a brief career as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. (�

With the holidays at hand, I always ponder on ways to say “thank you” to people who have made my life easier throughout the year.  Before I moved into a retirement center, the letter carrier always received a card with a cash remuneration, despite the objections of the Post Offic