THOUGHTS ON THE APPROACH OF MY 75TH BIRTHDAY What makes me feel old is when: I see an ad for a Drink Milk campaign and I can’t identify the celebrity with the white mustache; I read Michael Fox has turned 50 and “Back to the Future” is celebrating its 25th anniversary. I

POWER IN CREATIVITY Half way through my reading of Eric Hoffer’s True Believer, I was stunned to come upon the following:           “The most incurably frustrated – and therefore, the most vehement – among the permanent misfits are those with an unfulfilled cravin

THE JOY OF CONTRAST The weather may still have occasional gray days but nature is luxuriant in its spring colors. By now the pines whose green boughs have withstood winter’s tempest are joined by the deciduous trees, their pastel greens standing in stark contrast to the conifers. �

v:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS IN NOT ALWAYS A STRAIGHT LINE I continue to work my way through Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer,”

NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER As I wade into my 75th year, I admit I’m not doing much complicated cooking. So, on a rainy afternoon, recently, I culled through my recipe books, determined to be rid of most of them. My progress was slow as the collection was encrusted with memories

MEMORIAL DAY We remember. (Joe Rosenthal, AP: “Raising the Flag on Mt.Suribachi, Iwo Jima”)

OUTRAGEOUS THOUGHTS ON SHARING I am revisiting Eric Hoffer’s work of the 1950’s, “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.” Though it is 60 years old, the ideas are as relevant and fresh as if a paint can had been opened and its contents thrown agai

A LIFE OF FAME OR IMMORTALITY — WHICH MATTERS MOST? The other day, an acquaintance, learning my third novel, “Trompe l’Oeil,” had been accepted for publication, asked what writer my work most resembled. For a moment, I didn’t know how to answer. The question was

THOUGHTS OF STEW AND THREE CORNERED HATS There have been several novels written about teenage rebellion, “Catcher in the Rye” being among the most famous. But the impulse to strike out on one’s own, to establish one’s identity begins early, long before adolescence kick

ODE TO A HUMORIST Humorists are folks with a good eye for hypocrites, posers, and truth benders and who can be relied upon to bring the offenders down a peg or two with a few rapier words. In my political life I received a few good lickings from my detractors and if it was done well,