Death and Taxes — Life Certainties

Life contains its certainties. Gravity is one. Death is another. Recently, the GOP majority proved that taxes are not, at least for the wealthy few in the nation. Most everything else is open to further investigation. Life certainties would seem to be the province of science. But theories are advanced only to be disproved and…

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Atheism: Arriving the Long Way Takes a Lifetime

Dick McKenna’s had lost his faith. All the guys were talking about it. He’d even been to the rectory to talk to Fr. Jerry. Kids in eighth grade didn’t lose their faith. Not at Sacred Heart Elementary School, where Benedictine nuns taught. Yet Dick had lost his, and at the time, I was sure his…

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Lost Cell Phone and Covid-19 Too

First thing every morning, I connect my cell phone to the charger. Sunday, as my wife and I were about to leave for our weekly drive around the county, I couldn’t find it. No matter. It would show up somehow. It always does. I find a different place to leave my phone almost every time…

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Gerontologists: Creativity Increases with Age

Gerontologists say that creativity does not decline with the advance age. Oldsters have more life experience to call upon in solving problems or taking on a new venture. The only diminished mental faculty most of my 70+ friends notice is memory. Short term memory. We can remember the name our first grade teacher or the…

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Humanism, A Simple Pathway to Follow

Humanists were the bad guys while I was in college. I graduated from St. John’s University in 1961, and throughout my (MN) four years as an undergrad, humanists were the adversary. Godless. Arrogant. Self-centered. A haven for atheists. They were a threat to Christianity. Nobody knew how to be Christian better than Catholics. Nobody knew…

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Aging, a Trending Topic with Boomers

The difference between grieving and depression is important. Grieving, letting it go with all the painful wrenching that requires so much, is what prevents depression. Depression is hanging on to the hurt. Don’t do that.

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Catholicism Asks A Lot, Especially When You Are Young

Growing up Catholic was tough. Maybe not so much today, but in the middle of the twentieth century it was. You’re a kid. You don’t know any better. Lots of rules. Lots and lots of stories from the Old Testament and the New. It’s what your parents and other adults believe. It must be real.…

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Mayberry – Small-Town Midwest America

I grew up in Mayberry. Not really, of course. But Yankton, South Dakota was about as close to Mayberry as you could get in the middle of last century. It may still be. None of that is to say that growing up there gave one an advantage. What life has shown me since is my…

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Regional Premier: “Levittown” Opens Feb. 21.

Levittown by Marc Palmeiri “You won’t stop watching for a second,” Critic Neil Genzlinger. New York Times. Levittown was first presented opening in New York City in 2006 by the Axis Company. It was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. It was also selected by Backstage as a “Critic’s Pick” in 2009 at The Theatre at…

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Community Theater – Businessman in a Strange Land

#communitytheater #littletheater #amateurtheter Executive producer! That’s my title. Acquired by default, I hasten to add. A little over three years ago, a theater buddy and I decided to start an amateur theater company. I was retired, had time on my hands, and lots of experience on stage. I knew nothing of managing a production, let…

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