Here is the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of university: University: an institution of higher learning providing facilities for teaching and research and authorized to grant academic degrees; specifically : one made up of an undergraduate division which confers bachelor’s degrees and a graduate division which comprises a graduate school and professional schools each of which may … More Trump University–WTF?
As our kids were growing up, we went through several cats, a couple of guinea pigs, and one dog, a Norwegian Elkhound, as family pets. The first cat we had was a black and white cat that for some reason we named Pumpkin. Maybe we had got Pumpkin close to Halloween. She was a nice … More Taking the Cat to the Vet
When I was in my teens, my older brother Bill got me into a variety of sales. We sold cookware, encyclopedias, Bibles, guitar lessons, and at one point Bill even sold rugs. I sold magazine subscriptions both door-to-door and by telephone. I set up appointments by telephone for home improvement and siding salesmen. The 1987 … More Laying the Block
You learn something new every day. Today I learned never to order quinoa salad for lunch. My wife claims she was born with this knowledge. She ordered a turkey sandwich. And I’m still hungry. Quinoa is one of those superfoods that are supposed to have wondrous properties like anti-inflammatory phytonutrients and antioxidants that promote health … More It’s a Racket
I had a heart attack in 2008, so naturally I have a cardiologist I see for annual checkups. On one of my first visits to my cardiologist, he assured me, to my great relief, that moderate drinking is permissible for me. For a man, moderate drinking is defined as two drinks at any one drinking … More The Watchful Eye of the Cardiologist
I seem to be consistently wrong about almost everything. I have been wrong about Donald Trump at every stage of his ascent. When Trump first started to make real headway in his quest for the Republican nomination, I compared his appeal to the Republican base to the delight some people take in smelling their own … More On Being Wrong
Probably the most agonizing thing I have ever done is give up smoking. Throughout the 1970s and 80s my wife and I were avid smokers of at least a pack of cigarettes a day each, and I also smoked a pipe. I think I once tried to give up both by switching to cigars. We … More Quitting
I just finished reading David Hartman’s The God Who Hates Lies: Confronting and Rethinking Jewish Tradition (2011). David Hartman was ordained an Orthodox rabbi at Yeshiva University in 1953 and moved to Israel in 1971. In Israel he became disillusioned with the rigidities of Orthodoxy and ultimately founded the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem in … More The God Who Hates Lies
My father died when I was four, but even if he hadn’t, childcare would probably have been a problem for my mother. She had to work, and the one of my sisters old enough to look after me had to go to school. When I was five, a Catholic school agreed to take me into … More The Guardian Angel
One sweltering August morning many years ago, Jimmy and I were in the alley by the hollyhocks behind my house smoking two long cigarette butts we had found in the street. Jimmy caught a honey bee in a hollyhock and pressed the glowing ember of his cigarette against the flower. The buzzing was furious for … More But for the Grace of God…
No Harm Spilt 