THOUGHTS ABOUT SPECIAL DAYS As yesterday was Valentine’s Day, I began to think about all the different forms love takes. There are so many, I wonder if we need different words to express them the way Eskimos are said to have different words for snow. Yesterday’s holiday celebrated

February 15, 2011 REAL LIFE INSPIRATION Today’s other post was partially inspired by images from Gary Mortensen’s 2007 documentary, “This is War: Memories of Iraq.” The DVD is in wide release. (Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

THE SWEET TASTE OF IMMORTALITY On this day, I’m thinking of my friend, the husband of a married couple who lies in a hospice, clinging to his life in the hope he will live long enough to celebrate 63 years of marriage with his wife. What a bittersweet celebration that will be if he

Thanks for the heart on my tribute to my mother.  Liked the photo of Paris.  Don’t know if you meant the irony, but to have it conjoined with the injustice being done to the petition signer makes a statement in itself between human injustice and environmental indifference. 

THANK YOU DR. SHAW My mother met my father in Panama in 1935. He was in the navy submarine corps at the Canal. My mom, Costa Rican by birth, worked in a soda shop near the base. Dad couldn’t speak Spanish and my mother couldn’t speak English, but she must have made a good ice crea

A LESSON IN DITHERING Recently, I finished what feels the 100th draft of my third novel. I thought it was finished but the publisher wanted a slight change. It wasn’t a big change and I should have managed it without any pain, but when I opened the book for review, I couldn’t stop

A THING CALLED BLISS I hate to admit this, even to myself, but when one of my women’s magazines comes up for renewal, I’m going to let it expire. I can hardly believe I’ve made this decision as I’ve been a subscriber for years. But it’s time to accept I’ve outgrown it. I n

ZUCKERBERG, HUFFINGTON AND THE FACTS OF LIFE The February edition of “Vanity Fair” features an article about Arianna Huffington and two former friends who have decided to sue her now that her blog has been sold to AOL for several hundred million dollars. The two men charge

THE SIMPLE ACT OF DOING I’ve finished the “How To Market Your Books” volume I mentioned earlier (Blog: 2/1/2011) and was underwhelmed by the amount of useful information available. There was a pretty good list of resources and some scant information on how to set up a blog.  Bu

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:373121 February 4, 2011 WHEN THE MASTER SPEAKS… My blog of Monday, January 31, 2011 entitled “The Language of Rape” attempted to expose the effort of 175 co-signers in Congress to introduce a bill that would l