Odds and Ends

  • This

    This time felt different. This one touched a place in me rarely felt. In my lifetime, I’ve experienced many public figures shot at, some killed, but this seemed to cross a line not crossed since the 60s, my childhood. Since forever, the left has owned college campuses and those right of center were seen and

    Read more →

  • Old School and New

    First, let’s go “old school.” Julius Erving (Dr. J). In the 1975/76 season, the ABA was going bankrupt. The following season, four of its teams were absorbed into the NBA. The NBA’s dirty little secret was that it, too, was experiencing financial hardships that threatened its existence. Four ABA teams merging into the NBA gave

    Read more →

  • Daddy’s New Toy

    Who doesn’t love a new gadget? Gadgets, toys, gizmos; Americans dig novelty. I must confess that I, too, am titillated when, occasionally, some newness finds its way into my life. And like most new toys nowadays, mine comes in the form of an app. What is this new and exciting piece of novelty that I

    Read more →

  • Okay, so America experienced yet another shooting. But wait! Aren’t Americans enlightened to shootings every day in urban hotbeds like Philadelphia and Chicago? Indeed. And thus begs the poignant question: Why do we only react when it’s suspected that a shooting is ideologically motivated? Moreover, why do we only unite behind an anti-gun sentiment when

    Read more →

  • 2025 marks the ninetieth anniversary of America’s most discussed safety net: Social Security. Indeed, the most volatile political football (discounting reproductive rights) has reached a milestone birthday (Yikes, social security was eligible to retire twenty-five years ago!). But has decrepitude at long last set in? Back when FDR signed SS into law, the age one

    Read more →

  • Seeing Around Corners

    Recently, on a commute home, when cruising through my neighborhood, I came upon a typical summer scene. Indeed, nothing says summer quite like young girls selling sidewalk lemonade. Sidewalk lemonade is the one item for which I don’t mind overpaying “the market price.” I mean, does anyone ever really asked for their change? Of course

    Read more →

  • The Freedom Exchange

    What to sell, what to sell… mmm, let me think. Should I sell what people want or what they need? Moreover, do we, whether a Boomer or Zoomer, understand the distinction? I want a season pass to Citizens Bank Park. I need someone to heartlessly rid my home of all its junk so my wife

    Read more →

  • We, The Paradoxical

    Many years ago, I told my father, “Steve Carlton is the greatest lefthander of all-time.” My father replied, “No, that distinction belongs to Sandy Koufax.” I countered, “But Carlton already has more career wins than Koufax and has years yet to pitch.” My father wasn’t satisfied with what I alleged was flawless logic, and told

    Read more →

  • A Little Teaser

    The following is the first chapter of a novel I hope to complete before 2027. Because it can stand alone, I thought why not post it. A BALLAD FOR WINTER AND SPRING   As a passenger train chugs its way northbound from Memphis into the night, a girl, perhaps too young to travel alone, sits

    Read more →

  • America’s Diamond

    All team sports have common components and are derivatives of one another. All take place either indoors or outdoors and on rectangles of various sizes, with a fixed goal positioned at each end. Some look like this: Others look like that: Or this: Or that: Or this: Or that:      But whether it’s the English

    Read more →