A PLACE WHERE MONEY DOESN’T TALK Despite my advanced age I find that I can still be surprised. Just when I think I know everything about politics, human ingenuity surprises me. For example, I’ve been sitting around wondering where the Occupy Wall Streeters are intending to go with

A KIDNEY IS A KIDNEY IS A KIDNEY I came across a profile of a female attorney, Lori Andrews, in the February issue of “More” magazine, a woman about to argue the question, “Who Owns Your Body?” before the US Supreme court. But don’t be misled. This isn’t a debate a

TOO BIG TO FAIL? We talk about free markets as the mother of competition but the endgame of competition is monopoly. Barry Lynn, director of the New American Foundation makes this point in February’s issue of “Harper’s.” We may think consumers are protected by laws aga

LET ME BE WISE – A GIFT FOR MY MOTHER I picked up another book from the Dollar Store which proved to be a treasure: Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day.” Albom is a decorated sports columnist and the author of two better known works, “The Five People You Meet in Heav

ONE FOR THE CUCKOO’S NEST When my original publisher for “Trompe l’Oeil”* closed, I sent my manuscript to another small press in the hope they would pick it up. Soon after, however, I found a local publisher who accepted not only the new manuscript but agreed to reprin

A FRAGILE LIFELINE In the February edition of “Town&Country” Patti Davis, daughter of Ronald Regan, writes an essay about friendship. In it she explores the razor’s edge of that difficult interface where too much truth may break a trust and too little may seem like b

THE FIRST WORD WONT BE THE LAST Once in a while, I get a request from someone on Facebook asking me to click one button or another to protect their internet privacy. I don’t put much faith in these strategies and have stopped complying with these requests. Interaction on the web mea

A LONGING IN THE BLENT* AIR Recently, I rented a DVD entitled “The 4 Horsemen,” a conversation by four prominent atheist writers: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harrison, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens. The topics were varied, the observations thoughtful; but the conversati

THOUGHTS ON THE WAY TO THE ENDGAME I received a belated New Year’s message from a former student I taught in what is now called Zimbabwe. Today she runs a small travel agency in South Africa called Rufaro. She’s been in the business for several years and I’ve watched her struggl

LIFE LIVED AS A BEER BELCH Not long ago, (1/12/12) I wrote about the trend toward mediocrity in American society as decried by Bernard Berenson and Philip Roth, among others. Apparently the cry is growing louder than I realized and the threat more real than I imagined.  The columnist