Say songwriters are not poets and you’ll get little pushback. Of course Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Lennon/McCartney and a few others have earned critical acclaim for “creating poetry.” But, while great lyrics help make overall great music,…
The intent of this essay is sad and outrageous. It is about mass murders in the United States and how they produce three different types of outrage or indignation. Undeniably the loss suffered by family and friends of the victims…
Here’s an entertaining exercise for anyone who regularly visits an individual with cognitive impairment. Particularly for those frustrated by the monotony of responding to the same questions every 15-30 seconds. The tedium of the continuously looping conversation begins with the…
What’s this, a breach of the universe’s space-time continuum? Announced by an eerily familiar screeching noise followed by a repeating dial tone. Tattered, yellowed sheets of paper, one after another, float down into the holding tray of — wait for…
By Stuart Greenbaum Woefully antiquated and ambiguously drafted, both the Bible and U.S. Constitution would benefit greatly from some editorial revisions. Since this’ll never happen, the next best, maybe even better thing is to improve upon the transcendent rule, the…
By Stuart Greenbaum Ranked up there with “amazing” and “extraordinary” and “everyone,” the adjective “magical” is among the most misused and overused of hyperbolic descriptors. Very rarely is something as suggested not only baffling in the entertaining sense, but profoundly…
Spend enough time with someone with a broken brain and you might actually learn something. Think of it as addition by subtraction. For example, I’ve learned to appreciate that for individuals living with dementia and severe memory loss the mantra…
Once upon a time, good communication mattered. Proper use of language was core schooling. A skill we aspired to command. Socially and professionally, strong vocabulary impressed. Eloquence was a virtue. Oratory, a thing of beauty. Until, that is, Donald Trump…
Humankind should be more in awe of the universe thanks to the new deep-field images provided by the James Webb Space Telescope. Not because the images allow us to travel back in time 13 billion years. Not even because these…
Two of entertainment’s most accomplished and vocal proponents of active aging, both of whom celebrated birthdays this July, remind the industry and public of the value of experience, perspective and longevity. “How can a product be ‘anti-aging’?” Helen Mirren questions….
