People have told me that you either like Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, usually never both. I suppose that's true in my case. I like Dostoevsky and not the other one. But, you know, all the Russian novelists are verbose and like to have dozens of characters in...

Lately, I've read (thanks to Pat and Sue Parr's book clubs) James Baldwin's "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." With all the reading, writing and discussion groups I've been in lately, I feel like I'm back...

Ok, I was thinking last night when I couldn't fall back asleep... these entries have been pretty heavy lately, maybe even getting a DULL edge! So, the solution? It's time for a little humor. I did have a few jokes in WAY earlier blogs, see "I Don't Need...

I'm almost done reading Maya Angelou's autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (the first part, from age 3 to 14 or so). I would like to read more of her later autobiographical books. She's an amazing writer and person. Coming from humble and...

Answering Susan's comment just gave me the idea to write this. She likes older movies and liked my review of My Man Godfrey. Well, this one was just out recently, A Young Brilliant Mind, but probably just in the artsy theaters. It was a BBC production...

Lately, very late for me, I've been linking with a few of my old (don't take it personally, guys!) buddies and acquaintances from dear old CMA, on the beautiful shores of Lake Maxinkuckee in the otherwise drab state of Indiana. Back, back to Culver days......

Just had lunch with friend Harold, you might remember him from blog around June titled "Breakfast with Harold." This time he paid... maybe I should have lunch with him more often! Anyway, besides promising to subscribe to this magnificent blog, he suggested...

An op-ed column in the Jan. 28, 2016 Wall Street Journal by Ms. Allysia Finley compares Socialist-Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders to two early 20th century figures, Socialist Eugene Debs and Populist-Democrat William Jennings Bryan. She adds that...

I've recently seen commentators liken Bernie Sanders to early 1900's political figures Eugene Debs and William Jennings Bryan. Both these figures ran multiple presidential campaigns, Debs as a Socialist and Bryan as a populist Democrat. Not a bad comparison,...