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Tonight! Live From Old Forge, NY
I spent thirty-five (+/-) years standing front of a roomful of students. Doing the head math, it probably means I pushed chalk and rambled on about all kinds of things (sometimes, I even talked about science) thousands of times. Of course, being shy and bashful by nature and carrying vast amounts of insecurities and inadequacies,…
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To Betty: An Alpha and Omega Life
On a Tuesday Betty sat in the passenger’s seat of her car in our driveway. Her husband, Bob, was behind the wheel. They took our Netflix DVD (we share an account) and drove home. On Wednesday, she became unresponsive at her kitchen table. She suffered a stroke. On Friday, she was in the ICU for…
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The Robin Flies Away From Us: Some Late Night Thoughts
The pain must have been crushing. What else can make someone do whatever Robin Williams did Monday morning in California? Let’s consider clowns. The face of Comedy and Tragedy are on the same coin. It flips in the air and lands with a smile or a frown. With Robin Williams, it landed differently at different…
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The Fortune Teller on the Wall
Her eyes do not see my face, my grey beard, my grey hair or my imperfect eyesight. No, but she can see my very soul. She can speak to me without moving her porcelain lips. I feel that she can see my past and my future. Will she tell me why my heart…
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Forever Janis
If you’re busted flat in Baton Rouge…then pull out your harp from your dirty red bandanna…and play the blues, softly. Pull out your file cabinet and check that your Elvis and Marilyn stamps are safe. Make room for another lost soul. Today, the Janis Joplin Forever Stamp is on sale at the Post Office. Why…
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Zen and the Art of Sun Tea
I take the glass bottle and remove the plastic lid. I fill it up to the neck with water from a jug. It’s spring water, filtered tap…whatever…it’s better than our well water which is always cloudy. The well is too deep or maybe too shallow or just ‘dirty’ as the well-driller said. I open…
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The Stranger at the Other End of Front Street
I can feel the soft cool breeze blowing through my room from the Susquehanna River behind me. I am sitting at a small desk writing this post. My wife is sleeping deeply on the bed to my right. I am facing Front Street. The trucks speed past the town on the Southern Tier Expressway (Future…
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Coney Island With Princess Pat and Eddie
I was on the stage of the Sideshow at Coney Island and I was standing on the thighs of a woman who was lying on a bed of real nails. Her name was Princess Pat. I’ll get back to her. I’m in New York City. We came for a few doctor appointments. It was Tuesday…
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The Resurrection of Forgotten Love
In my youth, I loved with an intensity that burned hot and blinding-white, like a strip of Phosphorus. It consumed me and took control of my personal and private self. All my waking moments were devoted to devising ways to make this love, love me in return. In this vain attempt, I failed. How can…
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Talent Night at the County Fair: July, 2014
An I-beam blocked our view from our first choice of seats. We went back down and back up. Great view! A mud horse track separated the half-filled grandstand from the stage. The stage was named for the Waste Removal Company that takes the trash from most of the homes of Clinton Co., NY. It had…