Successful lives and businesses are entirely built on interdependence. In both, the key ingredients are time, self-awareness, and forgiveness; of myself and those on whom I must rely. The alignment...
Editor’s note: occasionally when listening to a playlist of my favorite musicians, I find a cut I don’t remember well or at all. While playing a Crosby Stills and Nash...
Editor’s Note: As you know, I’m fascinated by the human need for, search for, meaning. Von Drehle does a brilliant job of using the story of one man to illustrate...
Over the holiday, our granddaughter asked Alice and me if we could reject her “new cousins” who will enter the family upon her aunt’s marriage - two girls with whom...
Editor’s note: Two months in a row, I’m sharing the music of Johnnyswim and Drew Holcomb. This is a far more upbeat, toe-tapper but with similar deep meaning to last...
Editor’s Note: Warning: Do not read this book if you don’t have a strong stomach for explicit language and homosexuality, which I don’t by the way and yet the...
In honor of college football season, I recall the funniest actual quote from a football coach I’ve ever heard. About 25 years ago at the Big Ten season opening news...
Alice and I stood with Caitlin and her boyfriend at a music festival along the Chattanooga River. The lights came on, a church-sounding organ began, and a man’s voice filled...
Editor’s note: A few years ago, I featured Shakey Graves playing “Roll Them Bones” because I enjoyed the song but was also fascinated by the idea of a one-man...
Editor’s note: A recent book review cited Mr. Camilleri as one of the greatest mystery writers of our times. I love mysteries, so having never heard of Camilleri I...
Our mother called humor “medicine for the soul”. My brother, Terry, easily the funniest McCarthy, is currently in hospice and I overheard this exchange while the nurses were working...
Since I began delivering newspapers at age 10, I’ve spent time every morning consuming the day’s news. Then, a few years ago I started to notice that I was...
Editor’s note: Continuing on this month’s theme, here’s my current favorite singer in a soulful tune about change. Favorite lyric: “Tracing an old pattern Drawing the lines from where I...
A teenager brings her new boyfriend home to meet her parents. They’re appalled by his haircut, his tattoos, his piercings. Later, the girl’s mom says, “Dear, he doesn’t seem to...
What is music’s role in your life? Reflect for a moment; enjoy the rumination. For most, there are songs and artists who played in the background of some...
Editor’s note: Simply haunting. I now understand why it became a 20th century classic. Like fine art, it invites interpretation, one of which is that Camus created a commentary on...