Home Alone, by Rich Paschall So, it is Saturday afternoon. You don’t have to go shopping. There is no dry cleaning to pick up. There are no appointments to keep. Friends or relatives are not expecting you at a shower,… Read More ›
Personal
WHAT WOULD STEVE McQUEEN HAVE DONE?
It must be payback. Karma, hubris, or both. For more than 30 years, I drove a succession of fully loaded convertibles with Steve McQueen in my brain. Once, I was racing to a story in the dead of night when… Read More ›
OUTLIVING THEM ALL
One Sunday in church, Pastor’s sermon was about forgiveness. He asked everyone in the church to stand up, then he asked those who had any enemies to sit down. Everyone sat down but one very old woman. “You have no enemies at… Read More ›
ONLY A PAPER MOON
I noticed I have about an equal number of religious and atheist friends. That probably means I’m doing something right. If you get right down to it, I believe in you and me. I believe in intelligence and our right to exercise… Read More ›
MY BITTER ROOTS
I am named after an aunt I never met. In my version of Jewish family, you don’t name babies after living people. Only after those who have passed. This is not true in all Jewish families. It depends on where… Read More ›
EVERYTHING’S FINE RIGHT NOW -SONG LYRIC SUNDAY
FOR SONG LYRIC SUNDAY We all know everything isn’t fine right now but this song reminds me of times when everything was fine. I hope I’m still around when they are fine again. Music triggers memory for me as nothing… Read More ›
SORRY. IT WENT MISSING
TODAY’S UPDATE! I canceled today’s appointment because I can’t prove I’m me. If I were a MAN who had never changed his name, I would be fine. But since I do NOT have marriage certificates from my first marriage —… Read More ›
TOUGH DECISIONS
Fandango’s Provocative Question #153 This isn’t a question I can answer. It’s not that I haven’t had any life-changing tough decision, but because I’ve had so many. Which one was the hardest? I can’t say because all of the hard ones… Read More ›
MY BITTER ROOTS
I am named after an aunt I never met. In my style of Jewish family, you don’t name babies after living people. Only after those who have passed. This is not true in all Jewish families. It depends on where… Read More ›
THE KOTEL
My favorite place in Jerusalem was the Western Wall, sometimes incorrectly called the “Wailing Wall.” In Hebrew, it’s Kotel — it rhymes with motel. I used to go to the Kotel to leave messages for God. We all believed messages left there… Read More ›
PLANS
Few of us have a realistic game plan right out of high school. We might think we do, but not long after we start college or end college and start work, we find the profession we prepared for isn’t it…. Read More ›
STUDY HARD. GET GOOD GRADES.
GRADES I don’t think either of my parents ever told me to “study hard” or to “get good (or better) grades.” I never got bad grades or brilliant ones. I didn’t study hard or usually, at all. Back then I… Read More ›
MEETING ALFRED EISENSTADT
In the early 1990s, Garry did a feature about Alfred Eisenstadt and Lois Maillou Jones, both of whom lived on the Vineyard and had been given Presidential Medals of Honor for their work. We became friends with both artists. Eisenstadt was… Read More ›
PICKING
Once upon a time, in a far away land, The Boss assigned me a secretary. Not part of a pool, but a whole person. With a master’s degree from Mt. Holyoke. Pretty daunting, me with my little B.A. from Hofstra…. Read More ›
ONCE UPON A TIME
Garry was watching an old movie, “A Letter to Three Wives.” He thought the whole concept of writing letters was kaput. No one writes letters anymore. We may dash off a note on a card, but a whole letter? “When,”… Read More ›
HARD DAYS FOR A CONSCIENCE
There are a lot of things we don’t know about the people who came before us. We don’t know how or why they dressed and spoke and related to each other as people in their society. We are fuzzy about… Read More ›
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 