My Heroes At different times of my life I have admired many different people for any number of qualities. When I was four and living in Santa Monica, I remember discussing my heroes of the moment, who were the firemen and policemen of the local forces. The German woman with the Hispanic-sounding first name (Maria) that had come with us from Venezuela to care for my sisters and me, fed into my hero-worship by inviting…
Sleepless in San Diego I must admit, I don’t get it. We are in the final days of a tumultuous national election cycle and people just aren’t acting in ways that make sense to me. There are certainly some predictable things going on with rats leaving the sinking Trump leaky dinghy of state. The list of people trying to distance themselves from the Loser-in-Chief was inevitable and happens regardless of the politics of the incumbent.…
A Peak Under the Covers Sometimes I jot down a title that grabs me and then I go back later to write the story that came to mind for which the title was intended. Every once in a while, I get caught up with life and I forget to write the story and the thought evaporates, leaving the title staring me in the face with no idea what I wanted to write about. And then…
A Regular Joe Four weeks from tomorrow will be an historic day for sure. I started my voting life while a college student in what seemed like a similarly monumental election. We were trying to mobilize a generation to move away from what we of that generation thought was an untrustworthy leader. We were at war and it was a very unpopular war. And of course, we all know now that Richard Nixon was, indeed…
They Call Me Benito If you are like me, there is only one person you associate with the name Benito and that name rhymes with Linguini. That particular Benito led the first fascist coup in 1922 that turned Italy to National Fascism and then spurred on his brethren like Adolph and Francisco to drive their own people into a lather over the next fifteen years. Il Duce, Das Fuhrer, El Caudillo all mean the same…
The Dripping Faucet No, I am not expanding my DIY repertoire from gardening and big household projects to routine handyman maintenance tips. I know what a washer is but I have no idea if new age faucets have the damn things. From the few Delta/Moen/Koehler ads I have seen that show the latest digital faucets with Alexa voice commands to “fill 17 milliliters of water, thank you”, I am presuming that even if I had…
Getting Ready for the Big One After battling the war of the worlds of ants this summer, the weather seems to have broken to a more pleasant temperature zone with the lows overnight in the low 50’s and the highs reaching up to the low 80’s. That is now my kind of weather for a number of reasons. It used to be an issue of pure bodily comfort, but now I recognize it as an…
Wearing Our Underwear on the Outside Woody Allen’s fifth movie was made in 1971, the year I graduated from high school, left Rome to work at Case Western Reserve University for the summer and eventually wound up bumming a ride to Ithaca to start Cornell fifty years ago. Can you name Woody’s first four movies? His first three (What’s Up Pussycat?, What’s Up Tiger Lily? and Casino Royale) didn’t really star Woody, but as the…
Long Way Up Ten years ago Kim gave me a Christmas gift of the DVDs of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman riding their BMW GSAs around the world. First there was Long Way Round (2004), taking the Silk Road from Europe through the Far East, and then there was Long Way Down (2007), from the Highlands of Scotland to the tip of South Africa. I am a motorcycle aficionado to the max and I like…
The Burden of Conscience Imagine being in your mid-80’s and being at a point in your life when you have accomplished a great deal, more than most and more than you had ever expected. Then imagine you want to take your long-earned rest and simply spend time with your loved ones, but you can’t. You can’t because you carry on your shoulders the weight of the world…literally. All of the world’s great evils get translated…