Good morning, all.  I was wondering if anyone else received a lengthy email from Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, and if so, how you are choosing to respond (or not) to it?  I would call this part spam and part scam or spam, spam, spam, spam and eggs and spam.  What do you t… Read full post »

"They call it Stormy Monday

But Tuesday's just as bad

They call it Stormy Monday

But Tuesday's just as bad

Lord, and Wednesday's worse

And Thursday's all so sad."

 

It’s “hump day,” the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend:  the perfect time for a mental pick-me-up. … Read full post »

“All I have left is my skin.”  That’s what Mom told me today when we were sitting outside.  It wasn’t the easiest visit with her.  As my husband Lorin says, every visit costs.  It costs me emotionally, if in no other way.  I may leave elated after a go/… Read full post »

“Well those silly bully boys

They lost more than their toys”

           The Tiger Lillies

 

At Blessed Sacrament School (also known as “BSS”), which my brother called “Bull Shit School,” the atmosphere was… Read full post »

Mireille Enos (Linden) and Joel Kinnaman (Holder)
photo by Frank Ockenfels/AMC

It feels like the perfect day to discuss The Killing:  it is dark and rainy in New York and I pulled my back out, so I’m feeling a bit other-worldly.  AMC’s The Killing is one of those spoo/… Read full post »

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

            Matthew 7:15 King James Bible

 

Prophet Manasseh Jordan called me on my cell phone Friday afternoon. … Read full post »

I realize that I am responding late to the open call for “awesome stories” by the new editor, but I am hoping that he/she will take into consideration that I was indisposed yesterday while undergoing a colonoscopy.

 

My awesome story commenced on Wednesday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. when… Read full post »

“Is that all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friends,
then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze
and have a ball
If that’s all there is.”

                Jerry Lei/… Read full post »

This is a follow-up piece to my post of April 16, "Robin Gibb in a Coma". 

I am delighted to report that Robin Gibb surprised his doctors and awakened from a coma while The Titanic Requiem, his first classical composition, was playing, son Robin-John said on Monday.  The symphony, which… Read full post »

“I have a place where dreams are born,
And time is never planned.
It's not on any chart,
You must find it with your heart.
Never Never Land.”

        --music by Mark Charlap & Jule Styne, lyrics by Comden & Green

In my freshman year of high school, I… Read full post »

A new underground (or actually, above-ground) movement has begun, growing slowly, but steadily gaining momentum:  Airport Nudity!  Seriously, folks, it’s not a movement, but I think it would be cool if it were. 

 

Portland Strip.

I read today on msnbc.com that Oregon reside/… Read full post »

Let me admit right up front that I’m a sucker for the Bee Gees.  They grew in popularity during my preteen and high school years and the first album of theirs I bought was Children of the World, released in September 1976.  Who can blame a 15-year-old for going ga-ga at/… Read full post »

 It's tax day, everyone. Have you paid your debts to Uncle Sam?

Whether yes or no, let us take a moment to honor the Ides of April. It is 81 degrees in the Garden State, T-shirt weather. Tomorrow we're expecting 89. If only I could go to the beach in lieu… Read full post »

I spoke with a relative this morning; let’s call him “Bob.”  We had not spoken since last year, I think.  He asked how my Mom was doing.  I could have sworn I’d told him that she had Alzheimer’s or at least dementia, but what the heck, he said he didn&rsqu/… Read full post »

A friend of mine posted a clip from the documentary, Alive Inside, on her facebook page today, so I do not take credit for this post.  We belong to the same caregivers support group at the NYC Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

 

The documentary shows the transformation that occu… Read full post »

 This is what Easter 2012 felt like to me:

 

As a kid I enjoyed the hell out of Easter. I was a pious Catholic and gave up things for Lent, did the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, and/…

Read full post »

“In olden days a glimpse of stocking
was looked on as something shocking,

But now God knows, anything goes . . .”

                        Cole Porter

    … Read full post »

“Secret agent man

Secret agent man

They've given you a number,

and taken away your name.”

                        Johnny Rivers

 

Last week I went to Saint Agnes Church… Read full post »

I was so charmed by Stathi’s post about his town in Greece, that I decided to respond with my own story.  Although my husband and I have been living in New Jersey since 2006, I am a native New Yorker, and am a New Yorker at heart.  I was born in/… Read full post »

First of all, I want to thank V. Corso and Stathi Stathi for this wonderful open call.  There are so many songs I love, so many I heard my mother sing in her beautiful trained mezzo soprano voice as a child, but the first song that comes to mind when anyone… Read full post »

Remember when teen pregnancy was a problem, not a reality TV show

 

Remember when “shit” was a bad word (Catholic School)

 

Remember when hanging out on the stoop and playing stick ball was cool

 

Remember walking to the Queens Center Mall and LaGuardia Airport for fun

 /…

Read full post »

When nothing else makes sense, listen to Tom Waits.  That’s what I do.  He makes me laugh; he makes me cry.  His voice growls like sandpaper across jagged glass, but I don’t care.  He can act; he can sing.  He played the best Renfield ever on screen (Bram Stoker&r/… Read full post »

  Quincy and I are mad as hell, and Quincy never gets mad.

 

Trayvon did not deserve to die--

A boy in a hoodie with a bag of skittles

Zimmerman cried “self defense”

But what bodily harm did he fear?

A boy with candy

provoked such terror?

Was Zimmerman paranoid… Read full post »

 
Photo credit, The Inquisitr 

 

As if things couldn’t get any worse for John Edwards, a call girl working for the “Millionaire Madam” Anna Gristina told investigators she was paid to have sex with the former senator when he was fundraising in New York during hi… Read full post »

“You’ve got to be taught

To hate and fear,

You’ve got to be taught

From year to year,

It’s got to be drummed

In your dear little ear

You’ve got to be carefully taught.”

                … Read full post »