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I’m a basic man, a conservationalist in my accepted wisdoms, who practices the art of minimalism. I am also a salt-of-the-earth Italian who believes in attacking matters one at a time and correctly. Some call it OCD; I call it focus. If I’m doing something, rest assured, it is not a frivolous whim but a…
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And so another February 14th is among us. As history illustrates, February 14th, in the year 1929, did not go so swimmingly for old Bugsy Moran. Never let it be said that Al Capone was not a man without a sense of irony. However, the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre, which took place in Lincoln Park,…
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A brainstorm, an open pasture, a few good friends, and whatever became of Alexander Joy Cartwright? Baseball is not a fast-paced game, but it is sudden. Often, we can’t see baseball coming; it just happens—the game’s defining moments come and go like a flicker of light, bringing instantaneous and unexpected joy and crushing heartbreak without…
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It’s said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If that indeed is the case, that repetition and expectations as they pertain to results equals insanity, then I am insane. It’s no longer debatable. For example, for sixteen consecutive years, I’ve tried explaining to Rocky the…
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The art of foreign policy is quite simply: it’s a good guy, making a deal with a bad guy, to get rid of a worse guy. Then, afterward, you’re left with a dilemma: Can the “good guy” control the bad guy? Can he rein him in when he acts up, and if so, will the…
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My mission? It depends on which stage of life one is in when asked the question. In a spiritual sense and in a practical one, my twenty-four-year-old self had a much different mission than the man writing these words. Then my mission was to build a career that would help me rise to what I…
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The following is a piece that I swiped from my “Perspectives” page. I wrote it as a thought exercise to help me process the impact of technological advances on the five generations currently living. As we’re about to say goodbye to the first quarter of the 21th century, the words seem more relevant than when…
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Yeah, I know, in retrospect, the red and white ’77 Cadillac Eldorado was a classic pimp-mobile. But what can I say? I was fifteen—a tasteless teen who had yet to develop any sense of sophistication. I grew up in inner-city Philadelphia in a neighborhood whose curbsides were littered primarily with Chevrolets. But my around-the-corner neighbor…
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The video below is from a 1982 British film and symphonic poem adapted from a picture book by Raymond Briggs. Howard Blake composed the score. The song “Walking In The Air” is performed by Peter Auty. Some of you may already know this seldom-heard treasure. If you’re hearing it for the first time, it’s a…
Michael's Corner 