I AM LATELY REMINDED OF AN ASSIGNMENT when my metro editor sent me to cover a “gentle protest” over the Gulf War of the 1990s in Jackson, Mich. (Don’t remember that war – or what it was about? That’s OK – because it was probably “security” and &… Read full post »

WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL, you know, back in the early ‘70s (born in the far-out ‘60s), I wore dresses. And roughly cut-off, hand-me-down jeans as shorts. And pixie-cut hair – and no shirts.

I looked like a little boy. The way my sister and I ran around the… Read full post »

A FEW MONTHS BACK, WHEN ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS, DAVE - aka "The Squealer" to those of us who knew him as the king of snarky columns at our college newspaper (before the word "snarky" became vogue, and the vogue became law) - well, as I say, when Squealer sent… Read full post »

I'VE OVERCOME AN ABSOLUTE TERROR OF HEIGHTS since I was a kid by putting myself in situations that force me to deal with it. So one of my greatest successes in curing me of this phobia (well, as much as anyone can actually be said to be "cured") was leaning into the windows at the… Read full post »

I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite part of the holiday season, before everyone's a stressed-out mess. Family is happy to be together, there's non-stop chatter, and no forced laughter like you hear by Christmastime. Relaxed, warm, and aromatic with every wonderful spice that has blessed mankind and… Read full post »

One morning about a week ago, bleary-eyed and sipping on coffee while ritually scanning OS to jumpstart my brain, I conceived an idea to compile and post a list of stories on a regular basis. Stories about interesting people, places, events, things, observations, rantings and more that somehow missed… Read full post »

Have you heard the latest? Probably not. That's the way it is with complicated legislation or governmental decrees that may or may not hurt your pocketbook, especially when you're intentionally kept out of the loop.

Thank heavens, some people on Capitol Hill aren't OK with that - e… Read full post »

When I started my career more than 20 years ago, nearly all my friends were reporters.

We worked at small papers, where you got your start - writing obits, then on a smaller beat or assisting other reporters with theirs, and moving up the ladder. Some transferred to bigger metro… Read full post »

Under 10,000. Bad as things have been lately, I honestly didn't think the day would come when I'd see the Dow plummeting like this, when people like Mad Money's Jim Cramer would be urging Americans who need money within the next 5 years to pull funds from the market ASAP. (Click… Read full post »

I almost didn't tune into NBC last night to see who won America's Got Talent on its finale show.

It was so damn obvious the winner was going to be Nuttin' But Strings, the violin-playing Escobar brothers from Queens, NYC, there seemed little point in wasting an hour watching Jerry Springer… Read full post »

I can't help but notice the Next Big Story on America's financial meltdown isn't getting much press this morning on the mainstream media, so let me break it to you here:

The FDIC - the iron-clad $100,000-per-person-per-bank insurer that has "never failed" to deliver and has been con… Read full post »

Tuesday night, while relishing the freshness of Cloris Leachman's comic performance on "Dancing with the Stars" - a show that's too likable and fun not to enjoy - I suddenly found myself squirming in my seat.

When judge Carrie Ann Inaba revealed her score for the unpredictable Oscar-winning actr… Read full post »