PETRIFIED BRAINS

While I am no psychologist, speaking from personal experience I think that as we mature we all need to find ways to open our mind to the world; we need a “can opener” for a brain that is programmed to bias and naturally begins to close and petrify with age.

REQUIEM FOR A STADIUM

Normally I am not big on nostalgia, but as this year’s Major League Baseball season winds down and the Texas Rangers prepare to pack up and move across the street to a new home, the question looms large:  is the architectural beauty of the current stadium destined for the wrecking ball.

YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK . . .

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy broke out of the pack in the 1980’s with the comic schtick “You might be a redneck. . . .”  It got people’s attention (and drilled down into that little piece of yokel that is in all of us).  I think the phrase is useful in today’s politics, as in “You might be a Never-Trumper if . . . .”

FOUL RAG AND BONE

When we grow old we can sometimes take comfort in literature, in the lyrical treatment of our dotage.  Unless of course we choose to read the poetry of William Butler Yeats who seemed determined to lay bare the worst of it all, complaining that his latter-day inspiration came from the “foul rag and bone shop of the heart.”

TEXAS LOVE LETTERS

In March, Texas Monthly offered up a series of articles they tagged as “love letters” from Texans to their home state.  My favorites were the musings on childhood experiences in a state that has a wide variety of environs.

WRITERLY ADVICE

In preparing to speak at a Writer’s Conference this past month, I was reminded of my own writing history and the wisdom I could share with others.  So I am relying on friends and followers to pass along this blog post to all the young or struggling writers you know, of every age.

FUTZING WITH FINANCIALS

A growing political and legal scandal is whether real estate developer (and now President) Donald Trump may have illegally altered his financial statements and whether that is a big deal.  For those of you who do not believe this is important or possible – or understand how it is done – let me share some insider knowledge.

MAN ON FIRE

PBS’ Independent Lens series of Indy short-films is among the best TV offerings available in terms of great theater and moving social commentary.  Making the rounds now is a film called Man on Fire, that captures the life and death of a Methodist minister named Charles Moore who died by fire through sacrificial self-immolation on June 23, 2014, in the little town of Grand Saline, Texas, population 3136. 

PROFESSOR LEGUIZAMO

John Leguizamo is a comedian and actor who has been entertaining people for years – and making them terribly uncomfortable about their hidden biases – all at the same time.  His “Latin History for Morons” is probably his masterpiece to date.

ODE TO MY SONS

Looking back, I am not certain whether any of my sons have fully understood how much I have loved them, still love them, always will.  When my middle son Terry died in December 2016, I came to understand how few years any of us have available to us to say the words and how limited our vocabulary.