Suprise Me

Just a great slow dance song, so who was I to complain?  Blessedly, Susan seemed happy to dance it with me, slowly and closely.  And the touch and sweet smell of her still slightly damp hair as she rested her head on my shoulder were intoxicating. I pondered the song's title question as we danced, as well as thinking of another, totally incongruous song title, "I Could Have Danced All Night." Read More

   W.P. Kinsella died last fall. For those who don’t know, wrote the book, “Shoeless Joe” upon which the movie, “Field of Dreams” was based. He also wrote, “The Iowa Baseball Confederacy” (along with a slew of other novels and sort stories). Both those books I read on recommendation from my father (who is gone… Read More

Seeking motivation, the author opened his current lit file and scrolled past folder after folder, doc after doc. Jesus, he thought, this is one big pile of writing, all these little black characters wiggling across a white screen. He recognized travelogues from Cuba, some published, most not; sketched-out narrative postcards about growing up absurd in… Read More

I wanted to capture the roaring, rude dynamism of the late ‘60s and early '70s, a world in flux – not as it appeared from a distance to a disinterested newsman, but as someone immersed in the zeitgeist. Read More

The moon has a spell-binding hold on our collective imagination and never more-so than the summer of 1969. That summer was my sixth and last summer as a camper at the National Music Camp (now Interlochen Arts Camp) in Interlochen, MI, the granddaddy of fine arts camps, set in a pine forest between two lakes… Read More

Like all good boomers (especially Jewish ones), I still blame my mother for my own failings; in this case, my lack of typing skills. Read More

I started cooking because I was hungry. In fact, I'm still hungry—all the time. Read More

I still remember my first day in college. My dad came to drop me at bus stop and as soon as we saw our bus with the engineering college’s name on top, my dad showed a signal to stop. I boarded the bus and sat next to a girl. Out of nervousness I started chatting… Read More

I began this story on Monday, November 7. Here was my first paragraph: I am starting to write this the night before the election. The anxiety and suspense are palpable. Perhaps by the time I finish it, we will have elected our first woman President. I then wrote a few paragraphs about the political views of my… Read More

I have no control over the holidaze. The only thing I can control is how I respond to it. Read More