Life
In spite of being terrified of speaking in public, I've always been drawn to acting and stage production, partly by the actual performances, of course, but mostly by the nuts and bolts involved in bringing a play to opening night. I'm kind of like the circus
Life
The concept of the “butterfly effect” is that a small stimulus — say the flapping of a butterfly's wings — can with time, distance and accretion result in a large consequence — say a tornado. Ray Brack was our family's butterfly. Between 1960 and 1970, I had taught writing,
Life
I don't know how I came to love words more than material objects. But that's how the cards fell. To me, words were palpable. I could pick them up, hold them to my ear, twist and turn them this way and that until I got just
Events
Having soldiered through a series of user-discouraging cold snaps, the South Cheatham Public Library rolls into Spring with a varied menu of events under the leadership of Jennifer Ensley, who assumed the director's post last August. Ensley has a part-time staff of eight, including Rachel Zook, who serves
Life
Whenever some guy boasts that he's “gone outside” his “comfort zone” to deliberately risk life and limb, my instinctive response is “Better you than me.” I did not spend years constructing MY comfort zone (which boasts climate control, cushioned furniture and a well-stocked bar) to depart from it
Life
On this bleak arctic evening as the wind rattles my door like a debt collector on commission, I collapse into an easy chair, a flagon of medicinal brandy at my elbow, and commence leafing through a volume of the greatest stories ever told. I refer, of course, to my checkbook.
Life
Although Cupid and I have occasionally crossed paths on Spring Break (and once or twice at Winter Solstice), I am but an avid amateur in the amorous arts. The anatomizing of love — the delicate prodding and prying into that gossamer snowflake — is a task I leave to experts, by which
Life
"Drip, Drip, Drip" As a veritable artesian well of unsolicited opinions, I am forever confronted by those eager to tell me that my gems of wit and wisdom are falling on barren ground. “Surely you don't think you're changing any minds,” they scorn, implying
Life
"Maybe. But Maybe Not." If I can do it, anyone can. Haven't we all said that at one time or another? We utter it like a self-evident truth. But it's not true at all, because it implies the engine of achievement lies solely within
Life
Butt Seriously: A Meditation on “That Thing” Being a cautious and timid man with absolutely no tolerance for risk, I was foraging through Amazon the other day in search of padding with which to cushion my fragile hindquarters when it occurred to me that vast swaths of our culture is
Events
Life
"Our Blue Christmas" If I survive the 2024 edition, I will have lived through 89 Christmases. Of these, only one stands out in my memory. It was not a happy one. Here's why: In July 1959, I finished writing the thesis for my master's