What, Me Worry? It was 1967 at Hebron Academy in south-central Maine. This small, but respected prep school was a dead ringer for the school in Dead Poets Society and I was attending as a freshman. I had somehow lucked into a single room on the third-floor northwest corner but there were another twenty freshmen boys on the floor and one teacher/proctor, Mr. Beauchamp. He was no Robin Williams, Captain, my Captain. He was…
Weinstein, Epstein, Trumpstein The Grammy Record of the Year for 1985 was Money for Nothing by Dire Straits, which goes: That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free Now that ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it Obviously, some guys don’t have everything workin’ right and the chicks just don’t seem to come for free. Speaking as a man who lusted after far…
Never Give Up NBC Sunday Today had a Sheryl Crow interview and discussed her career and life choices. She went from being a normal midwestern girl raised in a middle class lifestyle and choosing a normal school-teaching career, to being a Michael Jackson protege that launched her first platinum album in 1993. Somewhere along the golden path of Hollywood music success, Crow moved to Nashville and adopted some children so she could get back to…
A Big Girl’s Blouse I am thoroughly enjoying the shenanigans in the House of Commons. I can barely recall a U.S. news day with as much Parliamentary proceedings making the news as today. Then again, three lost votes (the first three votes) for a new Prime Minister sets Boris Johnson in the record books as the most controversial PM in the history of England. No one has ever lost a first, much less a…
When it’s Time This morning I have a mild headache brought on, most likely, by a stiff neck. Maybe it was from sleeping too long (I had a catch-up eight hours last night) or maybe it’s from driving a total of six hours yesterday with one full hour being in a blinding downpour. Then again, I played golf on Saturday for the first time in two years, and while the lower back stiffness has…
Every Picture Tells a Story There are two ways in which we acquire art. The less obvious way is that when I have bought a house (primary or secondary or, even tertiary) I am usually quite rabid about getting the place set up to be immediately useable. To me, usable means with art on the walls. That approach requires me to be a devotee of art.com, where I shop for and buy relatively inexpensive artwork…
Cogito, Ergo Sum This morning my head is swirling with thoughts after watching a Broadway rendition of Hadestown. The show is a revival of a Greek mythological story, like so many other great tales. The details of the myth and the story are somewhat irrelevant, but suffice to say that it does what it is supposed to do, which is to ignite thought. I imagine that the Golden Age of Greece certainly raised the…
The Sovereign State of Mine, Mine, Mine Yes, you heard that tight, Donald Trump is having a temper tantrum over a place he’s never been, has only 50,000 indigenous inhabitants (the size of Sheboygan, Wisconsin), and has only one and a half golf courses, one of which appears to be on a glacier or something similar. What it does have is a lot of land, with less and less ice and something called rare…
Seeing Red I’m generally not inclined to link one story to another and prefer that each story stands on its own as opposed to being part of a series. So, while yesterday’s story is preamble to this one, you be the judge of its independence. Yesterday we bought a red car. We had decided in advance and together to buy a white car, which is really funny to me because I have a favorite and…
Silver Alert Yesterday was a day for acting like I was finally retired. Granted it’s August and lots of people are away enjoying themselves, but I am here in San Diego and it was Monday (the proverbial start of the work week). All our siblings are either off to work or off to home. Lazing about the house has a certain charm to it, but there were a few errands to take care of, so…