I remember, years ago, taking the est training. It was way back and certainly within the first decade of its infancy. I can remember any number of takeaways and many stay with me today. As a matter of fact, I can probably say that the primary life drivers for my perception of reality today came [...]

You know, it didn’t occur to me until I read Peggy Noonan’s column a couple of Saturday’s ago in the Wall Street Journal that the John Birchers are apparently dead. Fresh out of law school, I remember debating the Chairman of the John Birch Society in Florida back in the years that mattered. He was [...]

It occurred to me that, at a certain point in one’s life, you go from crafting your own originality in your earlier younger years to being concerned about being trapped by that originality years later. It’s as if the early originality becomes your personal prison if you can’t break free of it later. The French cuffs and [...]

Tell the truth! How many of you have not secretly wanted to be on The Actor’s Studio, answering those famous questions James Lipton presents, with fanfare, a certain level of humility, and an appropriate attribution to the source? • What is your favorite word? • What is your least favorite word? • What turns you on? • What [...]

A Few Introductory Comments Jordan, just out of the 9th grade, is in a summer composition program at Lake Highland.  He was asked, as his opening assignment, to write an essay on a topic which affected him personally. He wrote it, and after it was finished, he asked me if I would read it. I [...]

I’ve never been able to abide individuals who, when you are talking to them one-on-one, appear so unbelievably committed. Indeed, they are actually passionate about what they are saying and, on a one-on-one basis, they exude the highest level of credibility and reliability. And then, you leave the meeting, encounter, Starbuck’s coffee, or otherwise, with the [...]

Take a look at the little clip that I attached from an old episode of Petticoat Junction a friend of mine sent me a short while ago. I hadn’t thought of Petticoat Juncton for decades, to put it mildly. However, I remember it so very well today. I remember convincing Mom and Dad from time [...]

Interestingly enough, the bleak situation in Greece has diverted attention somewhat from the recession and focused it instead on the overall role of debt at the governmental level. The European Union (EU), sharing a common currency (Euro), in conjunction with other international funding sources like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will be required to pony up a [...]

When I sit out here tonight, I’m reminded of the hitchhiking trip Dave Strobel and I took from Notre Dame to New Orleans for our spring break 1970. It was a long time ago, of course. And yet, as I sit on the dock and feel the air tonight, I feel the exact same sensation. [...]

Was it a Woody Allen movie in some prior incarnation?  It must have been decades ago, but it is imprinted to this day.  I don’t remember the name of it, or the actors (although Martin Landau comes to mind…).  But I was never the same from that point on. The eyes of God see all because the [...]