NINETY-SEVEN

I was ill recently, only a cold according to the NP, but one that many seem to have suffered from over weeks and months. I hoped to avoid that as I had not been sick for five years, not since the last time I forgot my flu shot. I forced myself to rest. To eat. …

the SHOULDs

I have worried about my weight since I was 13 years old and weighed 117 pounds. All my girlfriends felt, as I did, that we should lose weight. I was thin. I did not understand that. I still receive the message that I should lose weight. More often I am told I should not worry …

The AUDIENCE IS LISTENING

If writers have a responsibility for how they narrate the world, certainly readers have a responsibility for what they consume and from whom.—Roxane Gay  It is noteworthy to me that Gay takes the writer's responsibility for granted. I am interested in the writer reading his or her own work and the responsibility that carries when …

unAMERICAN

We have been enjoying the BBC production of Victoria. At the same time, I am mystified by Americans' obsession with royalty. The radical Chartist Movement is featured in the current Victoria series. It is well to appreciate that what these people asked for should not sound radical to Americans. They were asking for what seems …

BE WHAT WE EXPECT

The Gillette commercial announces the company's revised motto: Instead of "The best a man can get" they urge men to be the best they can be. The response from a narrow group of men has been nearly hysterical. They accuse the commercial of everything from unrealistic to emasculating. Most people I know, including men, including men actively …

KIDS TODAY

I am ill. Sick. Not sick as in vomiting, which is what that word means in England. This is not England. I have a cold. I have not been this sick in almost five years. The last time I had my morning walk was a week ago. I have been outside the house once since …

WILLINGLY FOOLED

My son had a cat living in his house who knew that he possessed the Secret of the Red Light. Alan had an infrared pen which he shined on the floor and that cat chased from room to room, in circles and mad dashes across the house. Once she he ran the light under the …

TO A BETTER YEAR!

People think they can burn plastic into nothing. No, it turns into lumps I pick up later. And all those illegal fireworks? I am still collecting the refuse from the last blast. However, most of the refuse Gary and I pick up is from ships at sea. I know this because it's plastic and nylon …