While the country is tearing itself apart with protests like CHOP, a call for racial justice, and outrage over laws requiring face masks, I mark the passing of three writers who, through their publications managed to change the world and did so without provoking violence:  Kenneth Le

Waiting for Gadot, a play about waiting and written by Samuel Beckett, had its one-night performance at San Quentin in 1957. When it ended, the inmates were reported to have given the production a standing ovation. Few know better about waiting than prisoners, their lives on hold, and

I’ve always taken it for granted though I’ve cursed the long lines that result from staff shortages. Other than have a tooth pulled, I’d do anything to avoid the Post Office.  I buy my stamps from the grocery store and mail my packages at a stationery shop around the corner fro

A friend sent me an email this morning to say that in honor of the times in which we live, she was writing a new version of the Jabberwock.  I replied to her post as follows: “I woke up today with a new first stanza of the poem tumbling in my head.” For those who have yet to meet

In David Copperfield, Wilkins Micawber reveals the secret to financial happiness: Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds], twenty [shillings]’and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, res

The Harry Potter gang has had a falling out over the definition of woman. Daniel Radcliffe one of the stars of the famous Hogwarts series says a transgender woman is a woman.  His creator, so to speak, J. K Rowling thinks otherwise. “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attra

My broker called with a stock recommendation, yesterday. Beaten down by Covid-19 uncertainty, this long-established company had a good balance sheet, modest debt, and paid a decent dividend. I decided to take the recommendation. As a rule these days, I’m nibbling cautiously because

An article appeared on Facebook recently that quoted a preacher who in 2019 sermonized that educating women was a sin. His sentiment reflects the values found in the New Testament, but the idea that women should be subservient to men probably goes back to the dawn of human existence.

I listened to an interesting discussion about racial bias in language on YouTube the other day. The conversation was between a Caucasian host and an African American woman who consults on race sensitivity. The guest made the point that attention to language is one way to change cultur

I hadn’t ordered the book.  It was sandwiched between two purchases I’d made from Alexander McCall Smith’s series, The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Was this a mistake in the shipment I wondered or a bonus of some kind? Not knowing, I set the volume aside and plunged int