After a hard landing following a parachute jump, I couldn’t feel or move my legs. With lengthy surgery and rehab, I regained movement and sensation—not quite as good as before, but better than expected post-injury. After moving to California, I became a patient at the Spinal Cord Injury Center (SCIC) at the Palo Alto Veterans…
education / events / Need-to-know / politics
A book by any other author would not sell as sweet! Former President Bill Clinton and best-selling author James Patterson live in neighboring towns in New York. They teamed up to write this summer’s hottest book: The President is Missing. The thriller has sold millions of books so far, in spite of some carefully worded, restrained reviews. The…
We returned from a week-long vacation to shriveled plants in the yard. The flowers succumbed to a combination of heat and lack of water. But it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The northern states were as oppressively hot as the mid-Atlantic, interspersed with occasional deluges of rain that created humidity. Since the end of…
Can’t wait! It will be beautiful. The forecast is fabulous: sunny summertime weather. Here in the northeast it will be hot. There is no place I’d rather be than the beach. But plastic is here with me! Sure, this is one tiny plastic straw I stepped on at the beach. BUT: There is no escaping…
The businessman advises The Graduate: “I want to say one word to you. Just one word: Plastics.” We have taken that one word to heart. You don’t have to look far to realize that “plastic” has spawned industries, inventions and unfortunately mounds of trash. Plastics, derived from petroleum or natural gas, have transformed our world…
Just one word: Plastics! was the famous line from the Dustin Hoffman movie the Graduate. (Watch the clip!) The anonymous party goer told Dustin that PLASTIC was the future. Obviously, he was right, with a vengeance. Plastic is used everywhere, in every country in the world in millions of ways. It is indispensable for preserving perishables,…
What came first: the chicken or the egg? One could argue about that topic without coming up with a definitive answer. But determining whether legs or wheels came first is not debatable. No child has yet been born with wheels instead of legs. Go ahead, google “child born with wheels.” There are no aliens or…
The average woman today weighs approximately what an average man weighed in the 1960s. Women have grown in girth, but not height. The average man today weighs about what a typical professional football player weighed in the 1960s. So far, the heaviest human was a US man who weighed 975 lbs. Walking speeds vary, but the…
I was so glad to receive this video from a new fan who just finished reading Sailing Back To Ellis Island. He read the book in anticipation of his upcoming class trip to this National Park. I hope that his exploration of this historical place is enriched by the tales from real immigrants contained in the…
Sometimes the simplest tools are the best. Being in the thesis phase of a grad program, I’ve found that my best rhythm balances head and hands—pairing work projects with the writing that starts most days. Being able to use my hands is always at the top of my gratitude list, after an accident last year…
We have given away all the hard copies of the “proof” version of The Curse of the Magic Mirror! THANK YOU to all fans, from far and wide, who volunteered and are receiving their copies as I write! I can’t wait to read your reviews. BUT if you missed the hard copy, click KINDLE NOW and you can…
Everyone has words of wisdom to share, if you ask the right questions or take time to listen. In talking with one of my neighbors, I discovered that she and her husband were childhood sweethearts. When Diane was a 14-year-old junior high student, she met the boy who lived three doors down. He was a…
