I spent the first three years of my high school hell, I mean, sorry, experience, in a Latin class. I, II, and III, and I can hardly remember the name of the nun who dragged us through agricola, agricolae, ...
I really do wish I could find a way to veer from the politics and potential impeachment story, but intriguing stories and thoughts keep popping up like a game of political whack-a-mole. Bear with me on ...
I was thinking the other day about whether the current political tsunami concerning the Chest-Thumper-in Chief and Congress would be more informative (and less frustrating and confusing) if there were ...
It was more than three years ago that I decided to 'retire', although that word really hasn't much cache with me or a plurality of people who have reached the age of sixty five. I'm still working part ...
It seems now that we have been surrounded, inundated, drowning in nothing but impeachment 'news'. I'm just as drawn, as appalled, by the barrage of this 'news' like an out of control fire hose, of the ...
Memories of the previous impeachment. Was it 1999? Standing on the Ithaca Commons on a Saturday around noon, snow blowing around two of us: Me, dressed warmly, with a triumphant cigar in my mouth, and ...
We've heard lately of 'above the law', a 'nation of laws' and the 'rule of law', and other such phrases alluding to our founding principles as well as referencing our current national mess, and I decided ...
I consider myself a pretty steady character, not prone (most of the time) to being 'shook up', frazzled or just plain dumbstruck. But I am still pondering an experience of two days ago that begs for deep ...
One of my favorite U.S. presidents is Harry S. 'Give 'em hell' Truman. I am not alone in this admiration, as he rates highly in many people's minds and was/is certainly controversial. But, truth be known, ...
I was hoping that little 'tempest in a teapot' about our Chest-Thumper-in-Chief wanting to buy Greenland would last a little longer than a day or two, but even as 'yesterday's news' I can still use it ...
Well, why not start with some relatively 'good news' this week. I use the phrase 'good news' guardedly, but here goes. A few weeks ago I wrote about a new plan that was concocted by the College Board ...
Each week prior to writing this little ego-trip of mine called "Thoughts' I mentally work through more than a few ideas, news stories, etc., and begin to compose what I hope to be some rational thinking, ...
It seems the local 'elected representatives' are at it again, this time the Ithaca City School Board are the culprits. If you haven't heard, they have found a new way to potentially burrow into your ...
This week's 'Thoughts' are being written further in advance than usual, and in the fast-moving world that could occasionally spell trouble as events move and change colors. Even if things slip quickly ...
John Prine once opined (in his inimitable and folk-sy way) that "...all of the news just repeats itself...". It so often seems so, and I certainly have displayed the truth of that in this column, but ...
It seems that I'm running across some pretty unique (read: sometimes pretty weird) stories in out of the way places. I'm carrying clippings around in my pocket saying to myself that there has to be a ...
Ah, hazy days of summer. Lazy days of summer. Thoughts don't need to be lengthy, or difficult. Or deep. Keep it brief, and focused this week, right? A favorite author of mine (I guess I have several ...
"Plus ca change, plus ca roste la meme chose!!!" One of the few phrases I remember from two years of high school French, and an interesting bit of folk wisdom. And for those of you who took another language ...
The fourteen inches (plus!) of liquid sunshine that's fallen in our part of the universe this first six months of 2019 has given way to an abundance of sun, along with accompanying heat and humidity. ...
On occasion I wonder if I might have chosen another name for this column. My favorite editor (well, I have encouragers, but only one editor) suggested the simple 'Thoughts' which made a lot more sense ...
An important friend of mine and I broke an unwritten rule the other day: discuss anything but politics. It would seem that a great many people, and families, have been trying, succeeding or failing at ...
I have to do something with all these newspaper and magazine clippings. They're one reason I depend much more on paper as my source rather than online news: I'm one of those people (few in number, no ...
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore." Statue of Liberty inscription "What has been will be again; What has been done ...
You may have heard or read a news story the past couple of days about new efforts to eliminate race in college admissions, in the midst of several lawsuits by Asian students working their way through ...
We didn't need the National Weather Service to tell us it's been raining profusely and abundantly. Seems almost non-stop up until the hours as I write this. Over thirteen inches of rain in our area since ...
I believe it may have been Thomas Jefferson that stated that without the First Amendment the next nine (in the aptly named Bill of Rights) would be superfluous, meaningless. And I believe he (or whomever ...
Often there are a lot of ideas jumping up and down in my brain, clamoring for attention, like an audience at a taping of Let's make A Deal: "Pick me, pick me!!!" emanating from the excited prospective ...
I've been told over the years that I have a memory like an elephant (there's another reference to a political animal), although that may be unfair to the elephant population of the world. Perhaps a widely ...
I've been described as a 'political animal', and I suppose that's true as far as it goes. There have been more than a couple of people (across the political spectrum) who told me while I was doing my ...
Now that our delegates for 'democracy' in Albany have passed a budget (by law supposed to be a 'balanced' budget but if I used their balancing methods I'd be in a debtor's prison a la Dickens), we now ...
Being what some call a 'news junkie' for such a long time, I am inordinately interested in the continuing issue of not only what is deemed and termed 'fake news' (define as you wish, for I think there ...
How surprised were you when you found out that Tompkins County is considering building another entirely new office building? Oh, you haven't heard? Well, let's begin talking about this newest tax bonanza. ...
The name and content of the column is most definitely 'plural' this week. Not one thought, but a lot of little ones flitting about like our spring birds that don't want to alight for more than a moment ...
Several items of interest have crossed my path this week, and though it seems difficult to step away from political news of note I'm sure you may find these notes of at least passing amusement in the ...
It seems that events of note are piling up in my 'clipping file' (otherwise known as the newspaper pile on my kitchen table) so I'll prioritize these and speak of them in this 'order' this week: 1) Mr. ...
So, Amazon too its ball and went home. Long Island City in Queens went from an East Coast Seattle, a mega-hub of one of the 21st century's behemoths of commerce and free enterprise, to the laughingstock ...
I needn't point out to Lansing residents the obvious difficulties promulgated by the county legislature's decision to choke off Lansing development with no new gas supplies, or a reconfiguration of the ...
The word 'contradiction', or maybe 'you've got to be kidding me' seemed to be salient this week with two stories, one local and one national in breadth. I will focus on the local story this week, as I've ...
What passes for a February thaw feels adequate to the task. The groundhog has done his duty (what kind of tranquilizer do they give that rodent to keep him calm during his traumatic foray under the TV ...
I feel pretty certain (maybe not exactly metaphysical certitude, but fairly solid ground) that by the end of 2019 we New Yorkers will watch a bill get through the New York legislature and signed by Andrew ...
My patience (always in short supply) for once has been rewarded. I put this weekly menagerie of Thoughts on hold until the last minute (well, my last minute, not my publisher's) hoping I would not have ...
Here's the headline I spotted this week, and I am sure many of you saw it in print as well: 'Lack of Judges Means Longer Waits in Jail'. Now, my first reaction to this was the question (methinks logical): ...
I usually hesitate to comment on situations/events that may turn out to be 'old news' in the few days between my writing and its publication in the Star. Some things change quickly and others seem like ...
I would think a two week hiatus from writing would do wonders for the creative urge and kick start me into another year, or at least another week, of 'Thoughts'. Kick start is the right idea, though: ...
In the altruistic effort to keep you up to date on my latest nail biting, and an effort to prove that at least some of my thoughts are not so out in left field (isn't there a simple solace in being able ...
The headline was 'Mastering Evolution', and it blares out from a full page story about Dr. He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist described as 'super bright' by his Stanford post-doc advisor. Mastering evolution, ...
I often find it interesting and challenging to speculate on a phrase which many in the field (and personal process) of recovery from addiction: 'There's no such thing as coincidence.' Some would say that ...
The day after Thanksgiving and I'm being told by radio announcers (none local, of course) that about one in three Americans are prowling America's malls in search of the Holy Grail of ultimate Christmas ...
I'm writing this on Veteran's Day, and you'll read it a few days later. To start with a personal chuckle. my granddaughter Serenity (AKA Zen) said today was 'Veteran's Day Observed' as if the 'observed' ...
I'm writing this week's column prior to election day, and, as deadlines go, it is one that actually helps me to focus on the 'larger picture' if that makes sense. In another way to state it, the results ...