Kronstantinople

    If a tiny, 96-year-old woman with dementia -- who has lost the ability to form new memories -- tells a nighttime  aide that she has ...

How our tender sweetheart civilized the  "giant hole of putrefaction" that was 1890s Paris. "Do join us in Paris, for ...

Don't you just love these crazy kids of today?      I had an hour to kill before my appointment, so I decided to take...

Please, for god's sake, don't die! Hospice needs all the clients it can get! The stockholders set some almost impossible 'b...

The thrill of the hunt is part of the Thrift Shop experience. Macklemore bagged a luxurious beauty, if you don't mind animal slaught...

He looked pretty darned clean to me.     I was just about to knock on the door to Apartment 1B when I heard a terrible sob.     ...

A dignified, loving farewell, no morticians or toxic chemicals required.     Our mothers cared for us from the moment we were born...

    (July 2013) Does anyone else find the thought of sciatica kind of embarrassing? Do you think of funny old folks in the 1950s, griping...

       (6/8/12) The Barbizon Hotel for Women in New York City plays a prominent role in Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar."...

An Andy Warhol-inspired depiction of my Fiery Flare.        In spite of all the dire warnings I received from doctors, I refused...

This is Part Two of "Impatient," above .     It's not a stretch to assert that your body is YOUR wonderland.     ...

It's a good thing I've lost my vanity! Four months earlier, it wasn''t quite so bad..     (Feb. 12, 2015) Althou...

   (1/1/15) I finally did the deed: I shaved my head. My boyfriend has the pleasure of doing it every day, so why shouldn't I be able...

He, and thousands like him, are used as bait by "charities." Ben Affleck pleads for your money to "help our nation...

...and soar into the sky, freed from his ravaged body.      When I learned that my middle-aged, former high-school friend and debate p...

I Actually it starts with a $2.7 million CEO.    (Dec 12, 2014) This year as part of the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer...

Goodwill is generally regarded as the epitome of brotherly love and generosity.        (12/11/2014) If you feel a warm-and-fuzzy good...

Now, 70 years later, Mr. Walker was riding the same bike, in the same uniform.     (Dec 8, 2014) Mr. Walker was 94 years old, and h...

She had the exotic glamor of a foreign film star.       Stan was the sexiest g irl I had ever seen in person. She seemed to bel...

Here we go again: A charming upstart becomes an insatiable Fat Cat.                                                              ...

(Or is it the con of a lifetime?)     (Dec. 3, 2013) The lie at the core of StoryCorps is that it enables you to share "profound, ...

     (12/1/14) In the waiting room of dentist Saaren Van Wyck is a startling sculpture. which made me wonder if I should have selecte...

    (11/29/2011) Elderly Girl adores elderly people. They exude a sweetness and softness that is quite special. They have a vulnerabilit...

'MURDER,' IT WROTE The beauty was unsettling but unmistakable.     (11/28/14) On the day when Mitch Vasile lost his outward ...

A fictionalized  version of a wonderful true story.     (11/24/2014) C andi was a sort of magical girl at William Penn Elementary Scho...

    I have nothing against Thanksgiving, even though I think most of us realize that's it's just another excuse for overeating...

    I have just learned that three of the dearest people in my life, all of whom I have profiled in this blog, have died. Victor, the fie...

PROTECT YOUR KIDS from the Military-Seduction Complex Being an American soldier is like being the Daddy to all the world's adorable ...

    (11/19/14) As I walked down the hall of the dementia ward to have breakfast with my mother on Sunday, Nov. 9, I heard screams, so...

    (11/18/2014) I have never heard anyone say he wished to become a burden to his spouse or children. Yet many, if not most, of us do ...

It's news to you, but to a copy editor, it's just the same old story I was a part-time newspaper copy editor for 17 years, ...

Get out, you bastard! Sometimes it helps to fight Lupus ferociously. Sometimes it doesn't.    (March 7, 2014) I began having symp...

Isn't it fair to say that war has its own special beauty? Some find it exhilarating.      (Nov. 15, 2014) President Obama today...

Part Two of "I Did it My Way."     The doctor who came over to deliver one of Mama's four younger siblings re...

"Fountain of Eternal Life" by Marshall Fredericks.     (11/14/12) Every couple of years, Elderly Girl is awakened from h...

Perhaps having no clothes on is the real key to avoiding migraines.     (3/17/14) Doesn't the sexy ecstasy of this promotional phot...

Lupus filled my flat abs with fluid.        (Oct. 26, 2012) Lupus has become my own personal terrorist. He hides out  in the remotes...