Guest Column

Remember when America was all about freedom-loving fun and people fought for “The Right to Party?” Even in 1773 (evening of December 16), our royal-bashing, founding parents were dressing up like their Native American neighbors on a warpath; whoopin’, hollerin’ and tossin’ boxes of...

                                                        ODE TO JOY-ZINES                                    A self-pub, a journal, a dream board, a zine;                                    All the positivity one might glean.                                    For you and by you, print one or umpteen;                                    A roadmap for travels in your joy-making machine.         Your “S.U.N.S. ZINE” is a joy-journal created BYFY (by...

                                                                      ODE TO MY DAD                             Dad, I’m glad you were one of my favorite parents,                             Even though we disagreed about most sermons and nearly every election.                             Dad, I’m glad you named me for you and not for Uncle Lafayette or Clarence.                             And Dad, I’m...

NEVER TRUST A GERONTOLOGIST UNDER 70! Please hear me saying that playfully. However, I’ve done my 70 years and spent much of it studying and practicing “joyful aging,” so you can totally trust me on this next thing which could seem an absurd assertion. Can...

                                                                       ODE TO SUMMER                                                   My longtime favorite season is summer.                                                   Though fall, spring nor winter is a bummer.                                                   At 70, this thought’s not a newcomer;                                                   It came decades ago with my first frozen rummer. “Summer afternoon” according to American-born British writer, Henry James, are the...

                                                        AMERICAN HEROES by Cheryl Alexander (American poet, Cheryl Alexander, about her ode to heroes: “This poem is dedicated to all the heroes in our lives. My husband is a soldier in the US Army. He’s been deployed all over the world from the US...

I LOVE LIBRARIES and I have a dream of a beautiful, FREE, public one with happy colors, patron-selected seating, art murals, craft/study/activity areas, cubbies, tall windows for lots of daylight, tech/STEM assistance, an array of books + lots of integrated programming. This innovative library in...

                                                             When I get the urge to purge,                                                              I first put on some music.                                                              A little more punk and a little less dirge,                                                              Then I’m trashin’, smashin’, thrashin’ like a lunatic. “STUFF OWNS YOU…Wash it, dry it, fold it, iron it, have it cleaned, repair...

                                                                ODE TO ZZZ                                                      ZZZ are A-okay methinks,                                                      Each regarded with great esteem.                                                      A long sleep or just 40 winks,                                                      To doze, perchance to dream. There is some irony in the fact I started a luxury brand which sold many thousands of silver-topped casters of...

                                                                    ODE TO WANDERLUST                                                  I long to walk there, maybe there and then there.                                                  More joy-filled I’ll return, you may surely trust.                                                  In my lifetime, I shall flaneur everywhere,                                                  Just my feet, my daydreams and wanderlust. “I love to go a-flaneuring” just doesn’t have quite...