The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age

Why do we still quote Shakespeare more than four centuries after the Bard first entertained theatregoers in England?  Why does the work of American poet Robert Frost, declared Poet Laureate during President Jack Kennedy’s administration, still strike chords with so many of us?  Why, when U.S. law stipulates [...]

On September 25, 2010, at Brookdale Community College PAC in Lincroft, New Jersey, Jody Joseph will do what she does best: combine her music with her ongoing dedication to give back to the community.  Sharing a gene pool with opera legend Mario Lanza and garage band rocker-turned-chart buster Jon Bon Jovi, Jody’s style weaves strong [...]

According to yahoo.com’s intrepid news hounds, Jellies® are back.  Not the sweet, sticky strawberry jam-like stuff, but the shoes that were wildly popular a few decades ago.  Jellies® gave absolutely no sole support; neither did they allow your feet to breathe.  But this didn’t stop hordes of females of all ages from clearing them off [...]

Most people fantasize about winning the lottery, kissing their jobs goodbye, and flying off to an island to romp carefree under the sun.  Not me.  For the past four and a half years, my fantasy has been to sit somewhere quietly with Taylor Hicks, the monumentally talented singer, songwriter, musician, and arranger. Just as Taylor was [...]

Don’t Turn Your Ticket In, Don’t Get Your Money Back at the Door:
Counting Crows, Augustana, and NOTAR at the Starland Ballroom
 
When an act as stellar as Counting Crows launches its set with a cover of Van Morrison’s Caravan, it speaks volumes about the soul of that band: where it’s been, where it’s headed, and where [...]

Deeply embedded in our DNA are certain genetic traits that propel our species forward or at least, ensure its continuation.   Every human being possesses the drive, if not the actual ability, to earn, create, or steal his or her most basic survival needs.  On some level, we all share a sense of humor and a [...]

There is no moral to this story.  Neither does it contain a caveat or even a philosophical issue to be pondered.  It is simply the indulgence of a writer casting her mind back upon the sweet and innocent Fourths of July of her youth, when time seemed to stand still as it can only for [...]

Several years ago, I decided to test the theories of authors Thomas Wolfe and Thornton Wilder.  I wondered whether Wolfe, who’d postulated that no one can ever go home again, was a cynic or a realist.  I also wondered if my return home would be as painful for me as it was for Emily, the [...]

I cry at commercials.  Not all commercials, only those that are shot in and include familiar touchstones of my beloved New York City.  Thus, did this geek whose TV viewing once relegated primarily to documentaries and concerts get suckered into watching The Apprentice.  Understand that for most of my life, midtown Manhattan was my old [...]

Well before I was old enough to vote, I had made the conscious decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church: the faith into which I had been born.  In tossing away the dogma and iconography of an organized religion, I clung tightly to my spirituality and enhanced it as I matured, through spiritual meditation.  Decades [...]