Left to my own devices

Two recent conversations -- one public, one private -- both about seemingly disparate topics, have ushered forth to my mind their conflation in one general regard: We tend to value most, the time of our life when we were young. Sometimes, the sense of nostalgia can be warm and fuzzy. Other times, melancholy. On certain other occasions, it can be crippling. But it all seems to center around the time of our lives when we were young. Consider a situation in my town where a few older houses might be torn down to make way for an expansion of one of the local high schools. The vote to approve this passed handily a year ago, however, a preservationist group has officially protested the demolition of the houses. It has created quite an interesting public conversation in the community about looking ahead, vs. what is worth saving from our past. The dialogue, thus far, has been both fascinating and frustrating. While we've learned more about our city's past, we've also seen t...

With the recent release (and surprising popularity) of Kenneth Branagh's version of Murder on the Orient Express , Agatha Christie -- the author of the novel upon which the movie is based -- is now back in the public eye. Having long been a fan of Christie's works, I thought it a good time to finally choose my Top 10 favorite works by her. It wasn't easy, as I familiar with so much of her output, but the following list is a good representation of why I've liked Agatha Christie so much, for so long. Here we go: 1.  Nemesis (1971) One of her later works (Christie died in 1976), this story nevertheless presents an old mystery with a new mystery, a garden bus tour, suspicious characters, and the deceptively sharp sleuth Miss Marple. Thoroughly enjoyable. 2. A Murder is Announced (1950) Another Miss Marple story, this time set in the English village of Chipping Cleghorn. After reading a notice in the local paper, people show up to someone's house...

Happy Black Friday. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Our latest Pic of the Week is actor Mahershala Ali, best known for his Oscar-winning role in the Moonlight , along with Hidden Figures , the Hunger Games movies, and True Detective (too name a few).

The first election I was able to vote in would have been the spring 1994 primary. The first election I actually voted in was autumn's general election of 2004. Ten years went by where my right to vote went unused. People had fought and died -- in wars and in the streets -- for my right to vote, and I'd case it aside with the usual excuses of, 'They're all crooked, anyway, so it doesn't matter,' or 'My right to vote is balanced with my right not to vote.' Meanwhile, elections came and went, policy was decided, and I'd had nary an input. Things changed in 2004, and the world (for better or worse) has George W. Bush to thank for me getting me off my keister and becoming politically involved. With the Bush administration, the two main sticking points (though there were others) were our handling of the Iraq War, and lack of seeing the LGBTQ community as equal citizens. Karl Rove's orchestration of the culture wars was in full swing, ...