Oh, that a reasonable woman can think so wrongly!  Rebecca Traister pens a opinion piece for The New Republic that criticizes prominent women in the Democratic Party for failing to challenge Hillary Clinton’s potential bid for President of the United State. Elizabeth Warren and Kri

The question on the 6th grade science test in Louisiana required students to fill in the blank:  “Isn’t it amazing what the ____ has made!”  “Lord” was the answer the teacher expected but her student was Buddhist. He got the question wrong and was hauled before the class t

I picked up my phone today on the first ring.  Bob Bidleman’s son was calling and I doubted it meant good news.  Bob was in his mid 80’s, in frail health and living in a facility in southern California. I’d last contacted him a few months earlier to give him the news that Woma

While I was in public life, a judge appeared before me and my fellow commissioners to complain that he’d sentenced a man to 10 consecutive weekends in the county jail but that our facility was so overcrowded, the offender had been turned away each time.  The judge glared at the 5 c

One of my favorite cartoonists, Jules Feiffer, has turned 85 and recently published his first graphic novel, Kill My Mother.  Because the book departs from his usual satirical expression and ventures into tragicomedy, an interviewer asked how the cartoonist arrived at his plot.  Fei

A pet peeve of mine is “the critic,” even though I might qualify as one because I’ve scribbled a few lines about a book or two.  But I’m not talking about ordinary people expressing an opinion.   I’m talking about professionals who make a living posturing as literary expe

Periodically, over the years, a group of former political colleagues and I have gathered for lunch to share the events in our lives and the latest political gossip.  The restaurant where we used to meet was known for serving healthy, organic foods but we didn’t go there for the men

On October 26, 1971, Claire Booth Luce — former member of Congress, Ambassador to Italy, advisor to Presidents, author of several books and the successful play, The Women, as well as being a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor  —  found herself on a platform wit

Winning the Pulitzer Prize won’t ensure a writer respect from a certain cadre of critics, those who owe their high perches to their employment rather than to any literary achievement.   For good or ill, these arbitrators of taste imagine they determine what passes for fine literat

When I last wrote about my play, I’d emailed the manuscript to the Artistic Director of the Post5 Theatre.   Soon after, I was assailed by doubts.  Maybe I’d sent it too soon, without checking for typing errors, or dropped lines or the need to rewrite entire scenes.     Dou