I’m off to Milwaukee for my 50th high school reunion. It’s almost midnight and I haven’t started packing yet! Need to leave the house by 8am to catch a flight out of Albany. My last trip to Wisconsin, twelve years ago, was excruciatingly painful. I developed trigeminal neuralgia, maybe from clogged ears on the plane followed… [Read More]
Editing Excellence – Remembering My Father
“As a journalist in a newsroom, I never worried about how to write. I just did it. I put words on my computer screen to meet a deadline.” These words from Alexis Grant jumped out at me this morning. I’d left her blog up on my screen when I turned off the monitor late last… [Read More]
Norman Mailer admired my chest – because I was wearing my book cover!
Commenting on my post about blatant self-promotion, Marvin D. Wilson advised me to “let it all hang out” when it comes to hyping my books. The phrase brought back a treasured memory from 2007 – the night Norman Mailer gave me a beatific grin while he ogled my chest. Mailer was at the New York… [Read More]
In memory of dogs loved and lost
This morning my daughter’s dog Sequoia died peacefully at the vet’s office in Woodstock. A black chow mix, Sequoia had been Stacey’s devoted companion for 16 years. The dog had been abandoned, tied for hours to a fence post in Tompkins Square Park in New York’s East Village when Stacey rescued her, and they’ve been together… [Read More]
Mac Attack – Laptop Seduction at the Mall
“The men don’t know, but the little girls understand.” So sang Jim Morrison of The Doors in the song “Backdoor Man.” I’m not a little girl, but I believe men don’t understand the rush that overtakes women – or at least this woman – when they zero in on that “Gotta have it!” item at… [Read More]
See The Soloist with Jamie Foxx as a schizophrenic cellist
Today I saw The Soloist, featuring Jamie Foxx as a homeless man with schizophrenia who had been a gifted cellist and a student at Juilliard, and Robert Downey Jr. as a burned-out reporter for the Los Angeles Times. The film is based on a true story that became a book by the reporter, Steve Lopez…. [Read More]