I couldn’t get too worked up over Teddy Kennedy’s death – as I have looked at him as a murderer ever since Chappaquiddick (conspiracy theories aside).  Whether he had to make sure that a potential Kennedy heir (his own child lodged in Mary Jo Kopechne) would not live – or, whether he truly braved river […]

I normally enjoy Steve Lopez articles in my beloved Times (sorry Tami A. – I’m STILL olde school) – but his attempts to come-to-some-understanding of the dilemma that is the Los Angeles Unified School District – are woefully naïve.  I was pleased at a recent Steve L. proffering, however – of how therapeutic surfing is

My publisher, Arash the Magnificent (though I’ve threatened to replace him with his cousin, Shaheen) has informed me that I am three weeks behind in my entries.  I had fondly hoped that I was only 2 weeks behind – but, alas, it seems to be at least 3 weeks (unless I have a lost article/essay

I couldn’t get too worked up over John Hughes’ death – since the teen movies he made appear to me to have merely added to an already established stage of teenaged nihilism leading to adult oblivion—much like the character in the book Mark Chapman had in his pocket when he shot John Lennon to death—except

The ceremony of innocence is drowned…I find that America’s youth grows up far too quickly –and what is meant to be childhood — is drowned in a media deluge of mutually exclusive images, ideas and sounds – and mixed together into a schizophrenic cocktail for our youth (haven’t you noticed how we all end up

The other day I woke up wondering what-the-Hell I’m doing here: I mean, why have I been getting up every morning for the past 31 years to teach; write; parent; and/or otherwise get from A-to-B?  Saying it was to find women and get laid – is a bit too simplistic (and demeaning to any female

So let me see ıt I have thıs straight…after the Romans did their thang – the Catholic Church did theirs – assisted mightily by Spain, and then the Brits and then the Germans and then the U.S.  But the U.S.’s hold on the world has always been tenuous – as we haven’t been able to

If I struggle with ‘‘i‘‘s it’s because I am writing on a Turkish keyboard: a very different kinda keyboard.  Speaking of different – life in Turkey is very much different from today‘s U.S.  In fact, life in contemporary Turkey reminds me of my formative years in Michigan.  Imagine that, not only is it incredibly humid,

Well…another birthday has come and gone – where do they all get to? As I sojourn in Germany and contemplate getting dual citizenship – I also contemplate those great ex-patriates…Hemingway et al. (I don’t think Polanski qualifies).  I know a pretty cool story about a buddy of Hemingway’s – but I’ll leave that for another

One of the reasons that I love Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael so much – is that he does such a great job explaining (at least to my mind) – how things got to be this way.  And I certainly don’t disagree with anything Daniel has to say – but I wanted to add my own caveat