The Daily Reviewer | Everyday People

Writer's Block? More Like Writer's Shutdown.

Feb 3, 2010 6:11am

Remember when you had to write a paper for school, you knew what you were going to say but you just couldn't bring yourself to sit down and DO it? Welcome to my first non-fiction book's progress.It started with an idea, which found an interested agent, who then proposed...

Absolutely Outstanding

Feb 1, 2010 9:59am

You want a brief course in civil rights in America? No? Do you just want to see a truly masterful blog post? You can't do better than this:http://ruthie822.blogspot.com/Creative, compelling, informative. Bravo....

Sebastian's Pal, Sam

Jan 31, 2010 7:40am

Talking about Sebastian made me eager to talk about Sam. Sebastian, if you read the earlier post, was a feisty old donkey we adopted to keep our runaway horse, Sam, closer to home.Sam's another story and he deserves his own space.The picture above isn't Sam - I don't have...

Donkeys and Other Pets

Jan 29, 2010 11:28am

I've been on my own for going on two weeks now - KB went to a gig and expected to be home this weekend. Instead, he's going to be snowed in in North Carolina - perhaps until spring if their reputation for snow removal there lives up to its...

A Lie Is Violence Against The Mind

Jan 29, 2010 6:08am

I don't know where that phrase came from, but I remember it struck me when I first read it. A lie creates a false reality, a papier mache world that the liar knows to be a fake. Liars creates the lie to protect themselves from discomfort; it's not...

The State of the Union

Jan 28, 2010 5:44am

I am gullible. I admit it. It's taken me years to realize that people often say things they don't mean. Sometimes they say things they mean at the moment and they change their minds. I honestly didn't get it. I thought when you make the...

Recession? What Recession?

Jan 27, 2010 5:41am

This has been puzzling me for awhile. Did you know that Bloomberg's Business Week had a recession blog? Did you know it ended back in September of 2009?I was shocked when I read the headline: Thanks For Your Readership. What - you're done? The copy...

An American Tragedy

Jan 25, 2010 12:22pm

This sylvan, romantic view of rural America may be your vision of a dairy farm. A far less pretty picture exists today and it was illustrated by the death of a New York dairy farmer.Dean Pierson will be buried this week. Police say he was a troubled man....

Broken Down By the Side of the Internet Highway

Jan 22, 2010 7:08am

I am in mourning for my closest professional relationship. My friend, my companion who shares my days, the only other member of this small, home office team, has died. My work computer, my link to the home office, my link to the working world, unexpectedly keeled over and croaked.It...

Being the Change We Want To See

Jan 21, 2010 5:28am

Andrew T, I can add nothing.How To Get Obama To Be the President We Voted For...

Madam Foreperson Or Learning to Lead

Jan 20, 2010 1:09pm

I expected jury duty to be a learning experience. What I didn't expect was that it would force me to take a look at myself.Why did I even agree to do it? I had a feeling that I owed it to society, that I'd been able to skip...

Tainted Tylenol...Children's Aspirin...Pain Relievers

Jan 17, 2010 4:21pm

This got lost in the Haiti headlines and I just want to make sure everyone's aware and passes it on.There's been a massive recall of Tylenol products...Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, St. Joseph's Aspirin for Children and Rolaids. Bottom line, if it smells funny, don't take it.Seventy people got sick and...

Haiti Brings Out Our Best..and Worst

Jan 16, 2010 6:33am

The public reaction to the Haiti earthquake confirms my belief in humanity's basic decency. Donations are pouring in to various charities. If you're still unsure of where to donate, I've heard Partners in Health is an excellent choice - they were already well established in Haiti with clinics...

Dear Mr. President, Why Is NY Doing the Heavy Lifting on Bank Bonuses?

Jan 13, 2010 7:02pm

And here's his response. It's the right attitude, but I would far rather see massive bank regulation reform and finance industry reform. This smacks of just another fee/tax/fundraiser.Petition to impose new fee on banks.Dear Mr. President,I live in New York, home of Wall Street. And my attorney...

Everyday People Truly Are Amazing

Jan 13, 2010 4:43am

If you put 23 ordinary people in a room, told them that their decisions would have major impact on someone's life, then left them alone to talk, would you expect it to work?That's our grand jury system and I must confess that I had my doubts. We've all sat...

Now That's Damned Challenging To My Ears

Jan 10, 2010 7:37am

Do you remember the Walker Brothers? "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore"?I was feeling pretty droopy and spent part of Saturday afternoon watching "30th Century Man", the Bowie-produced film about Scott Walker, the voice of the Walker Brothers.Man.First, take a listen to Walker's later stuff and tell me that's...

The Year I Really Learn Another Language

Jan 9, 2010 5:28pm

I grew up knowing people who were multi-lingual. My father could speak English, read Latin, and could speak a bit of French and learned Serbo-Croation before he learned his native English. His mother spoke English, Serbo-Croation, French and Italian. After she retired, she went to breakfast every...

My Inner Warzone - Drugs Vs. Lyme

Jan 8, 2010 7:40am

I mentioned I've had an alien invasion going on in my body for the past six months. Lyme disease snuck in without me noticing (apparently it learns - I spotted it quickly the first time and squashed it flat). In six months, I'm sure it's managed to go...

Civics 101

Jan 6, 2010 2:02pm

I've been called for jury duty before. I lived in another state and I had young children. I begged off with great happiness.Those children voted in the last presidential election. So when I got the latest notice, I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able...

Avast, Ye Scurvy Dogs...Or Why I Feel Like A Pirate

Jan 6, 2010 10:53am

Forget Orlando Bloom. Forget Keira Knightly. Forget Johnny Depp (if you can). I now know more about the real pirate experience than I care to.Let us back up. Three years ago I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Oh yeah, test came back positive on the...

Air Travel 2010 Style

Jan 4, 2010 5:03am

Flying was an adventure when I was a kid. My mother kept the little TWA wings pin, just like the ones the stewardesses were wearing, which they gave me during a flight I can't remember. I was damned cute when I was little.Flying is a total pain in...

Delightful Discoveries - Part One

Jan 3, 2010 1:36pm

Part of relaxing and enjoying myself more this year is finding things that make me grin. There are a lot of them out there, and thanks to the Internet it's easy to find them. This is today's. I want to be in this band. Really. ...

There's Plenty - Greeting the New Year With Open Arms

Jan 1, 2010 8:29am

I resolved to be less afraid, more confident of our survival, the generosity of the universe in 2010. Not in a woo-woo, let's sit down and chant an affirmation kind of way (though that's probably not a bad idea)but in a practical, confident, relaxed attitude that lets me recognize...

A Few of My Favorite Things

Dec 29, 2009 4:55pm

Happy New Year. Enjoy!Happy New Year!...

A New Year and a New Decade

Dec 29, 2009 2:48pm

My love tells me there's a blue moon on New Year's Eve. How appropriate.This is a big time; a new decade, the decade in which I'll turn sixty (not to assume anything, but...), a decade in which both of my children will reach their thirties. Incredible.We had a picture...