Christmas is the time of giving and sharing. I feel especially generous this Christmas season, and I wish to give to readers of this...

Making Spirits Bright: Dean’s Take on Peace on Earth The song “Peace on Earth” was written by Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke for the Disney...

“Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” There is no way to describe “shoe love” to a man. The emotional transport truly does defy...

Giving Thanks I am giving thanks for the godsend of consequence, the harvest of coincidence, the friend who came by happenstance and...

The American Hero For just one moment he felt the thrill of the battle the daring to go desire compelled him to face fear and know the...

All-Hallows’-Eve : The Celebration of Truth It was a controversy: Halloween in the 1990s. Everything was a controversy back then, at...

20 October 2017 In honor of the Second Annual Flannel Fest at the local sporting goods store, we proudly present Flannel Hound! Chance...

Maurice Chevalier: I Remember Him Well Chevalier — the name itself fascinates. In French, it means “knight”; in English, a chevalier, the...

October 2017 Frédéric François Chopin was not fully French nor did he consider himself French. In fact (and fact is difficult to...

9 September 2017 Last year, I began to read the new section in my Norton Anthology of English Literature (Eighth Edition, Volume 1)....

I recently purchased an art treasure from Japan, a bunny created by Tokuda Yasokichi III (1933–2009). This man was one of the world’s...

Labor Day 2017 I have thus far not written any essay that is patently political, but I think it is time, in the name of fashion, to cry...

Mid-August 2017 The ultimate of soul singers for me, Otis Redding idolized Sam Cooke, whose voice was more supple; and Little Richard,...

Everywhere we go with Chance, which is to say everywhere that he goes with us, there are people telling beagle stories. It seems that...

Think Pink: The Period Not the punctuation mark but — the monthly female event for women of childbearing age. It has been my experience...

Shark Bait And so it happened. Patrick Marleau wore out not his welcome but those few carpets in his home in San Jose. He has jumped the...

Édith Piaf, Broken-Wing Sparrow It was always an incongruity for me, the love that my French-Algerian tutor of Parisian French held for...

My aversion to joining any group is so intense that when I briefly joined an online current-events commentary club, one of my first...

This past week, Dear Husband was clearing out his desk during the final days before he got out of the Pen: Retirement after Federal...

Friends and Family - Summer Shopping The Death of the Mall Balzac wrote, “A flow of words is a sure sign of duplicity,” and so I shall...