“If you do not have a happy-for-now or happily-ever-after ending, you aren’t writing romance. You will let your readers down.” Lynn Lorenz, a romance writer gave that advice to novices at a conference held in Las Vegas last August. While literary authors like Phillip Roth or Mar

Publishing a blog is like blowing bubbles. You never know what direction your thoughts will take or when one of them is going to pop. Certainly, Lyle Denniston of Yahoo News stirred up a lot of bubbles the other day, when he wrote about the use of Presidential Executive Power under th

“A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs,” Mark Twain once observed. (Following the Equator) He’s right, of course. Who doesn’t desire a little luxury in life? Still, some carry their aspirations too far. Kim Kardashan and her fiancé rece

Like others, I’ve taken my swipes at Goldman Sachs. (Blog 8/30/13) But after reading Anne Vandermey’s article, “Yes, Goldman Sachs Really is a Great Place to Work,” I came away less sure of my opinion. (Fortune, Feb.3, 14 pgs 97-104). As The author remarks, not only are the co

“The very rich are different from you and me.”  This quote from Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby I’ve used before, yet always find it revealing when I do. (Blog 4/19/13) This time it came to me after reading, “Unfriendly Skies,” by Peter Greenberg in February’s Town

As our Constitution was written in the age of lamplights and sailing ships, Jean-Phillipe Immarigeon, a Frenchman, proposes that we Americans rid ourselves of government gridlock by rewriting our revered document, recognizing that it was created centuries ago by men who wore wigs. (�

What’s a living wage? The president thinks $10.10 is the magic number. The governors of some states think it’s more. Some think it’s less. I’m not sure how our leaders come up with these figures but in my mind a living wage shouldn’t be a specific number. It should be a perc

For some time, I’ve been twisting my brain inside out, trying to appreciate trends in modern art. A recent article in Vanity Fair, suggests my struggles have been in vain. According to author A. A. Gill, what I need to understand about the new form of expression is that understandin

If I could add another amendment to The United States Constitution it would read: Section I: Congress shall enact no laws that a person of average intelligence is unable to understand. Section II: Any administrative rules created to regulate, enforce and/or clarify said law shall be l

“How thrilling to let go of old-self images that no longer reflect the real me,” writes Lisa Schwarzbaum in her essay, “Age of Enlightenment.” (More, Feb. 2014, pg. 124) She’s describing her feelings as she disposes of clutter that once passed for mementos. Primary among the