[Full disclosure:  I am an American military veteran.  I wrote this for Veterans Day this year and failed to post it here.]Here it is again, Veterans Day, likely our most misunderstood day of remembrance.  If you are a veteran I thank you for your service and I join my fellow Americans in honoring you. It began in honor of those who served in WWI, a war that ended at 1100 on 11-11-1918.  It is celebrated elsewhere, named Remembrance Day or Armistice Day.  It was Armistice Day here, too, until…See More

Cancer Schmancer.  That's the name of actress-comedienne Fran (The Nanny for six seasons, and much more) Drescher's 1997 book.  You can read an excerpt from it called In The Beginning HERE.   Fran's life hasn't been at all like the nanny she played.  She has endured awful experiences and a dreadful disease, the latter compounded by a series of missed diagnoses and blundered opportunities.  Many of us would have given up and withdrawn to…See More

It was on the back page of our local rag this morning.  You can be forgiven if you overlooked it, it was just an anniversary. OTOH, it was a pretty big event back in the day.  On this date 66 years ago, more than 10,000 men died for you.  In one day, on one 50-mile stretch of beach. Think about it.The anniversary of the invasion of Normandy was still a big event back in 1994, on the 50th.  I remember the allied leaders meeting on the beaches, saluting the vets, promising everlasting gratitude…See More

It is Memorial Day weekend.  There are new flags on new graves again this year, graves of men and women who did not imagine themselves dead in or as a result of combat this time last year.  New American martyrs who last year hoisted a cold one to those who could no longer join them but with whom they are now forever joined.  Before the end of this weekend there will be newly killed Americans to remember next year.  As ever was. I always think of Larry Swarbrick, my friend the gentle giant, on…See More

Hello writing friends...  I wrote the following chapter for my biography and shared it with my memoir writing class.  The teacher told me at the next class that I should have warned people I would be reading disturbing material so they could chose whether they wanted to hear it or not.  They thought this was disturbing?!  Holy cow, they sure don't want to hear/read "the rest of the story".What do you think?  Thanksgiving 1946When Thanksgiving came around, it was still warm and felt like summer…See More

I was VERY surprised to find that Madona Pitskhelauri has joined us here at WriteNow!  It is a great pleasure for me to welcome her and to encourage her to write with us and tell us about herself.I've known Madona for about six years.  She lives in Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia, but she's originally from the great Georgian wine region of Khaheti, the city of Telavi.  I have come to think of Madona as more of a daughter - OK, maybe a grand-daughter - than anything else.  I…See More

It only took a month for the Pennsylvania deficit to balloon from $700 mil to a bil. If you can believe Gov. Ed Rendell (you can't) he couldn't possibly have predicted that last month. See my April 4 blog for details, such as they are. NOW Ed wants "spending cuts, new taxes and revenue transfers" to address the problem. Seems his income and…See More