WHO TAKES THE PRIZE? A friend who lives in Canada recommended a novel that recently won a book award there. It won’t be available in the United States until January but I managed to look up a few reviews. Most readers gave it 3 stars and one person commented it was “…hardly wort

THOUGHTS ON INDULGENCE This day after Thanksgiving, I seriously considered spending the entire time under my blankets, reading, eating and performing any inescapable rituals as near to my bed as possible. What I had in mind was a slothful day, something akin to the kind Ilya Ilyitch O

Want to wish readers of this blog a very happy Thanksgiving.  Hope you’ll come back tomorrow.

THOUGHTS ON THE EVE OF THANKSGIVING On the day before Thanksgiving, I want to share a memory that belongs to Maya Angelou, poet and author of many books, plays and essays. It appeared in the December 2010 issue of “Good Housekeeping” magazine (pg. 177). Sometimes, a though

DANCING WITH THE PROGNOSTICATORS I heard a report recently that some telephone companies are going to stop printing the white pages of the telephone book. The news came as surprise. How are people to find each other without the white pages? Some of you may be snickering. If you are, y

LITERATURE CAN WORK MAGIC                I’m not waiting for Black Friday. I went shopping yesterday for gifts to donate to the Christmas toy drive. If I delay, all the “good stuff” will be gone. I confess I came home with a prize: a life size baby doll complete w

HARD THOUGHTS ABOUT WINNIE THE POOH Walt Disney is preparing a feature length movie of Winnie the Pooh which will be released shortly. The artwork will be hand colored, the way the studio worked before computer animation. The intent is to preserve the film’s antique quality but the

MEA CULPA When I was in college, one of my assignments was to read Earnest Hemingway’s short story, “A Clean Well Lighted Place.”  There are many interpretations as to its meaning. Some think it contrasts youth and age, for example. Others think the three central figure

IF THERE IS TIME… On November 13, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from 7 years of house arrest in Burma. This is not the first time the government has imprisoned this frail looking woman but none of her confinements seem to have dampened her resolve to bring democracy to her cou

WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND IT IS US — (Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly, 1913-73)    The last election revealed a country divided against itself with no vision of how to pull together. One group wants to level the economic playing field to create greater opportunity for all and