In the 17th century, King Louis XIV of France elevated the humble pea by ordering it to be placed, en masse, on the dishes served at the parties in his most elegant palace.   Tasty snow peas were being developed in Holland at about the same time Louis’ guests were rolling them around on their plates […]

  Renowned fashionista and modern-day glam rocker, Lady Gaga, has attracted the attention of audiences worldwide with her outrageous outfits and sexually-charged performances.  While most of her fans are teenagers and young adults, she has no bigger fan than 16-month old Salvatore whose favorite song is Bad Romance.  If 20th century American poet William Stafford is correct […]

On a bleak, 3-degree New York winter’s day several weeks ago, I buried a relative by marriage.  As my husband was a pallbearer, I drove to the cemetery with my brother-in-law, who muttered repeatedly under his breath, like a mantra, “Please, let them not take us up right up to the hole.”   My own family […]

Life can be overwhelming.  It relentlessly pursues even those who attempt to hide from it.  Today, life encompasses an aggregation of personal, professional, social, and familial commitments.  And, given the impact of technology, life moves at an ever-increasing pace. Symbolic of this fact is the earbud and its omnipresence.  Go into any crowded public place, […]

I’m No Social Butterfly Learning to be social is an art that begins at an early age.   Social beings, like ants and lions, almost every human being craves a strong social network. Few of us wish to be perceived as social outcasts and quite frankly, it feels good to be liked by others.   As school children, […]

In the James Hilton novel, Lost Horizon, the High Lama reveals to his predecessor that a great storm is coming to engulf the world.  At the storm’s conclusion, the treasures of Shangri-La (heaven-on-Earth) were promised to emerge, thereby restoring a ravaged world.  In his prognostications, the spiritual leader also echoed Jesus Christ in predicting that […]

In December of 1995, my brother Anthony and his fiancé Palma asked me to be the best man at their wedding.  As Anthony had lost his first wife in July of the previous year, this was to be his second marriage. A meeting was arranged for Palma’s family and ours, at the home of Robert, Anthony’s […]

Death is a cold, hard fact of life.  As painful as it is to part with a loved one we will never again see in this lifetime, those of us who are blessed discover that, once the initial grieving period passes, our dearly departed find ways of communicating with us beyond the grave.  How we […]

New Orleans has its Mardi Gras, replete with the famous beads tossed from balconies and colorful floats denoting no less than twenty different parades devoted to the day, but Italy has its Carnevale.  Heralding the beginning of the Lenten season that ushers in Easter, it is the biggest and most celebrated festival of the year […]

The graphical representation below demonstrates far better than words the staggering growth of unemployment throughout the United States during the period from January 2007 to the present time.  With double-digit unemployment spreading like a contagion to virtually every state and locality in the United States, our nation’s recovery from the worst recession since the Great […]