In the 50’s, living on Northlawn Ave. between Intervale and Schoolcraft Sts. in Detroit, our ‘Party Line’ was a weird concept in telephonic history, wherein we shared phone service with another neighborhood family. We each had our own number, (ours was WEbster 55460…I don’t know why I remember that), which only rang…
We’ll probably never know if this week’s spy swap was a fair trade. Do you think there are free agent rules and trading deadlines in espionage? And why do you think Russia would need to go to so much trouble to create fake New Jersey suburbanites when they, (like everyone…
Reflecting on things historical on this Day of Independence, I might have tended to invoke Boston’s Tea Party, (and it’s burgeoning present-day offspring), as being the most famous, (infamous?), but, Mr. Carroll’s, albeit fictitious, Mad Hatter version is still, by far, the epitome of the traditional consumption of brewed beverages,…
Watching a World Cup game or two started me thinking that there are any number of uncomfortable sports metaphors in the world’s most popular game: avid, frenzied fans on the edge of their seats, waiting expectantly, minute after endless minute, hoping for a sudden flash of the ball crossing into…
The phone rings, the Earth shakes, tires screech, a levee breaks A gun fires, the wind blows, hearts break, and so it goes “…and in the end The love you take Is equal to the love you make.”
I’ve always been fascinated by magic and magicians, not the flashy, Vegasy, David Copperfield kind, but the close-up, mind-bending, how-in-the hell-did-he-do-that? kind. I’m sure that part of the intrigue is my penchant for puzzle-solving, although when it comes to magic, not solving the puzzle is, somehow, the greater reward. I’ve…
Getting the attention of the masses has been historically difficult. But, when special opportunities have presented themselves, (Moses down from Sinai, Jesus on the Mount, Hitler in Berlin, Rev. King on the Mall), the potential for mobilizing good or evil has resulted in a very high success rate. Tragedy, especially…
The State of Texas, in its infinitely unique shit-kicker wisdom, has opted to drive its youth back to the Middle Ages, or it would drive them if it believed there actually were Middle Ages and if it had any idea when those Ages occurred. (Does anyone else marvel at a…
We have strategies for war, natural disaster, (sort of), and man-made folly. We have financial strategies and metaphorically, everything is some kind of sports strategy. There are daily corporate strategy meetings and well-honed strategies in games like bridge and chess and, yeah, Stratego®. But, we have no real peace strategy,…
I was having dinner with friends in Paris a couple of nights ago, (do I really need to write any more after that?), and as the topics of conversation bounced seamlessly between ‘World Peace’, ‘Lost Luggage’, ‘Leaking Oil’, ‘Mac v. PC’ and many, many others, the varied levels of impassioned…