But that’s the… Read full post »

Losing your job opens your eyes in many ways: you consider your place and future in the employment universe; you realize that it doesn’t matter how well or hard you work; and you finally understand how fiscally irresponsible and greedy corporate America is.

Finding yourself unexpectedly and… Read full post »

Bruce Springsteen got snubbed. So did Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Patti Smith, Nancy Wilson, Helen O'Connell, Tom Petty and Grace Slick.

These amazing artists didn't make the final list of nominees for National Public Radio's project to explore what listeners and music experts… Read full post »

After scrubbing up like a surgeon and donning an old apron to protect his clothes, my 10-year-old son is ready for action. He’s pounded the chicken and beaten the eggs and he’s ignited the gas stove with a little help from me.

He’s ready to cook.

Me? I’m enjoying… Read full post »

In life, there are always winners and losers. I don’t know why that is, only that it is. For someone to win the lottery, a lot of someone elses — always including me, it seems — have to lose. For sharks to stay alive, they’ve got to eat smaller fish or… Read full post »

 “Born  in Michigonia.

Moved to Babylonia! King Tut!”

As a follow up to my last post, I thought you might enjoy seeing the result of my last-minute costume making.… Read full post »

I sat at the dining room table, stitching together the King Tut toga I had promised my kid for Halloween, when I burst into tears.

We bought the Egyptian pharaoh hat at the King Tut exhibit in Indianapolis this summer on one condition: that it be Will's Halloween… Read full post »

Having lunch with Soupy Sales every day was a way of life for kids my age growing up in the Detroit area. There's not a one of us who hasn't stopped to remember him oh, so fondly as we learned of his death. And in remembering Soupy, we feel nostalgic for… Read full post »

I found myself having to explain to my son the difference between being “fired” and being “laid off” after I lost my job on April Fools Day. (Some corporate overlord has an ironic sense of humor, eh?)

“You get fired for doing a bad job,” I told him. “Don&rsq… Read full post »

On Sept. 27, the Detroit Lions won a game after a nearly two-year losing streak.

On Sept. 28, the newspaper that “eliminated” my job for budget reasons reported that it spent nearly $500,000 on upgrades to beef up color reproduction at its printing plant — a story… Read full post »

There isn’t enough room to keep a lot of CDs in my car, so I rotate them in and out. My musical whims are like Michigan’s mercurial weather: they change from moment to moment, mood to mood.

When I was purging my household for my annual… Read full post »

I planted sunflower seeds along my backyard fence a few years ago, hoping for a bounty of the flowers that always make me smile.

Nothing grew.

As time passed, I forgot I had ever planted the seeds.… Read full post »

How a gift from long ago got my son his dream dog

My in-laws never gave each other lavish gifts. But after my father-in-law, Don, was nearing the end of his battle with lung cancer, he enlisted my help with a birthday gift for my mother-in-law.… Read full post »

These past few days have been mostly dedicated to getting ready for my yard sale, the culmination of the purge of my household. Surrounded by stacks of things to be tagged and sold, I had to take time out to file for unemployment.

I’ve been laid off from my newspaper job since… Read full post »

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?

Did the “alternate” prom thing – getting drunk by the pier on Lake St. Clair with other like-minded classmates. The cops came and shooed us all away, but not until they shone a spotlight on one of the guys taking a leak off the pier.

2.… Read full post »

Teeth bared, snarling, our new puppy lunged for my face. I was trying to keep her from nipping my kid when she set her sights on me instead. BAM! My right eye bounced, flashing white, like it was whapped by a baseball. My upper lip stung. My… Read full post »

I’ve given thanks every day this summer that I am unemployed. Rather than trudging off to my stressful old newspaper job every day, I instead get to be witness to the summer in which my son, Will, happily transitions to the “double digits,” as he calls them.

Today, my little boy turn… Read full post »

It was during a conversation with my son a couple years ago that I realized he had absolutely no idea what it was I did for a living.

I don’t remember a lot of music that had such the pervasive, uniting, boogying effect on everyone in the world — everyone — like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

There were other albums popular back in the 1980s that came close to touching the mass boogie… Read full post »

One night I went to sleep a fifth-grader with tiny bumps on my chest and woke up the next morning with breasts rivaling those of tennis star Simona Halep. I exaggerate just a bit, of course, but it’s more truth than fiction.

Simona Halep has folks talking because of her plans… Read full post »

It’s been a week since motorists and passersby competed with armored truck crews and police for money that landed like litter along the I-75/Chrysler freeway in Detroit.

It was about 8:30 a.m. on June 11 when a Loomis armored car transporting an unknown amount of cash… Read full post »

Hearts broke across Detroit Friday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins outplayed the Red Wings to win the holy grail of hockey— the coveted Stanley Cup.

After a long, grueling hockey season, it came down to the final seconds of the final game of the Stanley Cup championship season, which saw a rema… Read full post »

Southeast Michigan is in a hockey daze, and we’re hoping that when Friday’s final game in the Stanley Cup series is over, we’ll be able to savor a sweet hockey hangover.

I know, I know. For most of you, watching a game played on ice in the middle of June seems weirdly… Read full post »

I thought I'd share photos of my clematis. The abundant rain in Michgian this year has helped them to bloom like they've rarely bloomed before.

 Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I do!

 Be sure to concentrate on the clematis, not the front porch in desperate need of painting.… Read full post »

I know I am making too much of this Stanley Cup series, but I can’t help myself. The re-match that has the champion Detroit Red Wings defending against the powerful Pittsburgh Penguins holds allegorical fascination for me.

In my heart, this series has nothing to do with hockey an… Read full post »