A few of Skopje’s many statues (one year later)
A brief recounting of the Balkan getaway in February, 2025
It’s been almost a year since our visit to Skopje, and later Albania and Montenegro....
5 years ago: “City Hall’s attacks on county government stand an excellent chance of...
From NA Confidential on June 22, 2018. In retrospect, one part of this equation that I didn’t anticipate was Jeff Gahan’s eagerness to kneecap...
Barack Obama’s speech at the funeral of Jesse Jackson
Earlier this afternoon I happened to scroll past the live feed just as Barack Obama was beginning his speech. I listened to all of...
On making the San Fernando Valley one’s home sweet home
I’ve been to California only twice, in 1978 and 2006, for no more than a few days each time.
Often it occurs to me that...
A war, a novel, a walk through the cemetery
Yesterday I finished reading The King of the Two Sicilies, a novel from 1980 by the acclaimed Polish author Andrzej Kuśniewicz (1904 – 1993).
In...
With the passing of Jesse Jackson, I’m reminded of 1984 (the year, not the...
Even if Orwell never goes out of fashion in New Trumpia. Cover photo credit: Rainbow PUSH Coalition; video clip here.
First, the here and now.
CHICAGO...
Herring salad — a simple, savory and effective recipe
Believe it or not, this tasty and simple recipe for herring salad originated with Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook, which was published in 1980 and...
Diary: Magic and loss (adios, John Carlos White)
Paraphrasing the late, great Rodney Dangerfield: “I’m okay now but you shoulda seen me the past three weeks.”
Once I assumed the late Ron Mikulak’s...
Green beer for St. Paddy’s? No, but let’s reward the principled, and ignore the...
beer
The following isn’t anything you have not heard me say before, and often, but the time draws near, and once again this year I’ll...
Claude Lanzmann’s essential documentary film Shoah
Auschwitz, 1987.
Whenever I’m asked to reveal my “favorite” film ― and be aware this happens rarely, because everyone who knows me understands that I’ve...