
On Pope Francis and war
In most of the West, Pope Francis I is facing furious media and public indignation for his unwillingness to openly [...]

The Ukraine sandlot
A bully with outsized delusions of long-gone glory invades his now independent but one-time fiefdom to the south because it [...]

Radio days
Among the plethora of crannies on the web is a section called “Classic Baseball Radio Broadcasts.” Contained here are more [...]

Coffee with glaucoma
At the end of the carpeted corridor is a tall step that leads into the kitchen. Remember this well. Memorize [...]

Existential terror!
In college, I had a lanky, long-haired roommate with a grin on loan from leprechauns. He’d bound through our dormitory [...]

Cave-car Rome
A cardiologist is interrupted mid-visit with a patient by an incoming call she says she must take. The electrocardiogram is [...]


Fraternal heretics
My ailing plumber resides in one of Dante’s less agreeable “new normal” cellars. He is desperately ill with liver cancer [...]

Ash to ash
In the years before his death earlier this year at the age of 89, my erudite brother had turned away [...]

On a stalled planet
One friend, an influential member of European mass media, bemoans the disappearance of what he calls “fluidity.” Another, far younger [...]

Sogni d’oro
In a dream, I kissed a woman. Not once or twice or as part of a seduction but as a [...]