On March 11, President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill. Although many Americans will welcome the $1,400 checks and other benefits, the bill presents numerous issues. Someone gets $1,400 so long as he/she has income less than $75,000 or less than $112,500 for a head-of-household. No distinction is made for whether the recipient
Watching “Nomadland,” as I did the other day, was an experience I will never forget. And not just because the movie was exceptionally good. For the first time in a year, I was “going to the movies,” as opposed to “watching a movie on my laptop” or “hooking up my laptop to my big-screen TV.”
Long ago, when the world was young, the Sun traveled on her journey through the sky and looked down upon the people of the Middle World. She hoped to see lovely people, but all she could see was squinted, frowning faces. She spoke to her brother, the Moon, about the ugly faces of the people
According to its spiritual meaning, the month of April is a time of growth and moving forward in new and positive ways. The birth flower for the month is the daisy (one of my favorites) which is associated with purity and innocence. For me, April is a sign of rebirth, as I watch daffodils and
One of the most positive aspects of living in Houston, TX is that with almost year-round high temperatures, you don’t mind escaping to someplace a little chillier for a holiday. The off-season then, is one of our best friends. It isn’t so painful to pack a heavy coat and hat when you know that upon
One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, is famously quoted as declaring, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” In a world driven by marketing and extreme consumerism, many Americans have bought into the lie that having more “stuff” will bring happiness. The newest iPhone, the coolest jeans, tailor-fit brand-name suits and the trendiest shoes
A Tennessee dog made it back home,13 years after going missing. It sounds too incredible to be true, but it is on the internet, so it must be. (Right?) Thirteen years ago, a horrified teenager watched out his window as a man in a pickup truck snatched his family’s Yorkshire Terrier from their front lawn
Hollywood loves to make movies about its own history – and audiences and reviewers, generally, have liked them. Witness Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” last year, “La-La Land” and “Stan & Ollie” before it, and the Best Picture Academy Award-winning “The Artist” prior to those. A major contender in the next Oscar
When The Hobbit was released in 1937, it was met with near unanimous critical acclaim. With one story, J. R. R. Tolkien re-invented the fantasy genre. The characters, the races, the history, the world he invented dazzled adults and children. His follow-up trilogy, The Lord of the Rings cemented his standing of one of the
“Smile!” my coworker said to me, as we passed in the hallway. I didn’t respond … out loud. In my head, however, I was thinking, “I am not smiling. I mean, I am not smiling, but why does that have to mean something bad? I am thinking, and it hurts to smile and think at
Okay, I’ll admit it. I am a fan of the reality show/singing competition, “American Idol.” I have been watching it for years, back to the days when Simon Cowell, who everyone loved to hate because he was so frank (and sometimes just plain mean), Paula Abdul (who was too gushy and nice) and Randy Jackson
I love to tell amusing stories from my travels – using the wrong words, making a silly assumption, putting my foot in my mouth or complaining about the heat, the number of steps, or the choice of hotel on a holiday. These anecdotes make readers smile, chuckle, remember a similar “fish out of water” experience
