My Dance With Mr. Bojangles
When I was a reporter at the S.F. Examiner in the late 1970s, I was assigned to write a feature about people who live and work at Lake Tahoe. Sammy Davis Jr., aka “the world’s greatest entertainer,” kept a residence there.
So You Want to Be a Real Estate Agent
I didn’t become a real estate agent in my mid-60s because it was something I had always dreamed of being. I’ve never been very good at Monopoly. For more than 40 years, I had been a writer and editor at national publications. I’d still be doing that, had it not been for the Internet, which decimated the print media. My original career, essentially, had been sent back to “Go.” A few years ago, I reached out to an old friend. When he was in his mid-50s, he reinvented himself by becoming a real estate agent. He’s done very well, and by now could retire comfortably. I followed in his footsteps.
Getting Under My Skin
For me, listening to ‘Shadows in the Night’—Dylan’s homage to Frank Sinatra—is like eating anchovies on ice cream.
An Appointment With Destiny
The scariest thing in the world is to be told you have the ‘Big C.’ But the doctor didn’t say that.
Miss Kitt To You
I couldn’t imagine why Eartha Kitt—’the most exciting woman in the world’—would want to hang out with someone as ‘unsophisticated’ as me.
Apple’s Tim Cook Came Out and We Can Relate
It’s not about being gay, it’s about knowing and showing who you are.
American Tabloid: Veteran Stars Make 2014’s Biggest Headlines
From Bill Cosby to Barbra Streisand, the year’s most talked-about tabloid stories focused on celebrities we grew up with.
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
This holiday season I became the confused old man behind the wheel that I used to dread encountering on the road.
What is a blog?
It’s a conceptual feature story, and not a diary. Mine run in length from 700 to 1500 words. I have been writing personal blogs for the PBS-sponsored website, Next Avenue, since its conception in early 2012. I write up to three a week.
My blogs have a perspective: How boomers, or people over the age of 50, look at life. We’re not young. We’re not old. We’re learning from our past. We’re redefining the future — what it means to stay mentally and physical active.
The material for my blogs comes from news events and cultural trends. That’s my canvas. I draw upon my life experiences and journalistic third-eye for my colors. I combine satire and serious reporting.
I put together a dozen blogs that I’ve written for Next Avenue. If you’d like to see more of them, go to my author page at nextavenue.org.