Sometimes it’s hard to know whether someone is malapropsic or just plain tongue twisted. Arnold is one or the other. The jury remains deadlocked. ********** Arnold is an old friend of mine, literally and figuratively. We go way back to the days of shade-tree mechanics and corner service stations, the days when somebody would pump …
It’s easy to fit in…you have to be bold to step out. I take Lady Macbeth’s advice and screw my courage to the sticking-place. ********** I’m reading La Rochefoucauld’s maxims. This one catches my interest: “In every walk of life each man puts on a personality and outward appearance so as to look what …
A seismic shakeup is happening. Think twice before putting your picture on a box of rice. Whoever thought it’d happen, having to say goodbye to Uncle Ben? Why, he’s been with our households since 1943, guaranteeing the finest in converted rice. Plus, he’s Uncle Ben to about 3.5 billion people worldwide. How can we say …
Nations, like individuals, have birthdays. July 4, 1776 is the date on the birth certificate of America, not 1619. Thomas Jefferson wrote and signed it. Revolutions change landscapes. They are not won by ideology but by blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no birth. So it was with the birth of America. The …
It turns into our driveway, the long, black limousine. Its sleek ebony finish gleams with an ethereal sheen. Its windows are tinted, dull and darkly opaque. It resembles an imposing hearse come to collect its fare for the day. It creeps up the driveway in no special hurry, reflecting the nature of its occupant seated …
It was the best of days; it was the worst of days. Such is often the dichotomy of life. ********** There’s a lot of confusion going on these days. Have you noticed? Are we sowing the wind again; will we reap the whirlwind? Our fallow fields of yesterday are being ripped up, row by row, …
The Corona Cruise Liner is docking. Wild shouts of pandemonium erupt. The in-place sheltering voyage is ending. Masks like black academic mortarboards sail skyward. But now what? ********** We’ve been drifting around for almost three months, squeezed in stifling confinements that have shrunk smaller than closets, sick of masks, hand washing and agoraphobic hand wringing. …
Red meat and a hungry hawk…nature, wild, bloody tooth and nail. The red-tailed hawk’s black talons gripped the thick leather glove on the falconer’s forearm. Its luminous eyes blazed with intensity on the slab of red meat in his handler’s hand. The hawk’s hunger transcended its natural fear of humans, and in these brief moments …
“Sometimes it hard to know what to do.” Bukowski ********** With COVID putting the pinch on us, we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty of insufferable solitude. The pent-up energy is volcanic. It’s fish or cut bait time. Open up, let us out, or else. Something’s gotta give. The day began being mildly ticked off. Not …
Great decisions pivot on small points. Where’s The Great Unus to deliver us? ********** Are you peering through your peephole of life, looking for another Moses to suddenly appear, someone who can part waters, calm fears and call down bread from heaven? Dismiss the illusion. We elected the wrong candidates. Life hinges on balance. Like …