At 81, I now have a pair of hearing aids, and believe me, I’d prefer not to.  If I didn’t already know life moves at a frenetic pace, I would now, judging from the noise around me.  I’ve worn these expensive devices for three weeks and I’m struggling to make the adju

With the Democrats in control of the U. S. House, President Donald Trump seems to be reviving his base with fiery rhetoric.  We all know who members of that base are — Woebegone innocents of earlier days, a time when, if corn prices flourished, so did the nation. As a kid, my f

James Wolcott in a recent essay pokes his finger at the thorn of my discontent.  We are in a period of hysteria where the political alt-right and alt-left, overblown with fears and secretly hoping for a revolution, begin to sound the same.  As Wolcott explains, the two sides may not

In “Hollywood and Divine,” James Wolcott ruminates on the pluses and minuses of giving television fans what they want. (Vanity Fair, June 2014, pgs. 68-73.)  While considering the question, he explores some of the more popular programs since Twin Peaks and the X-File — stor

Author Frith Powell writes in her book, Two Lipsticks and a Lover that French women are different from their American counterparts:  Unlike her neurotic American sisters, a French bachelorette would never be caught dead mopping on the sofa, digging into a tub of Haagen-Das because so

No doubt about it, the Republican Party appears to be in its death throes. A majority of voters is moving in one direction on issues like background checks for gun buyers, gay marriage, immigration and climate change, while the Grand Old Party is  moving in another and acting as a sp

Rupert Murdoch and I have something in common. I don’t really “get” Twitter. I have 33 followers on a good day, but they aren’t really following. They’re using my site as wallpaper to advertise their sites. We have no more to say to each other than if we were nomads stumblin