Poet Robert Lax – Michael N. McGregor’s Powerful Biography

Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax by Michael N. McGregor is a powerful biography of a poet who only recently has been recognized for his contributions to the evolution of contemporary poetry. The book succeeds on several levels. Lax was born to immigrant parents in Olean, New York in 1915. The middle class…

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Catholic Growiing Up — Doubtful Growing Old

#catholic #religion #mass #catholiceducation #childabuse I was raised Catholic. I look back in amazement to my boyhood when reasoning, educated adults imposed pointless regimentation on children in the name of religion. The Church, gratefully, has changed over the years. But in the early and mid-twentieth century, adults often invoked faith to justify the harsh treatment…

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Blogging Requires an Unrelenting Search for Posting Topics

Blogging becomes a strict task master after posting a  few dozen articles. I started out with the notion that blogging would be a gratifying creative outlet. It has been. I also thought that it would help make people aware of my novel, Deadly Portfolio: A Killing in Hedge Funds, and there is some evidence that…

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Decorating the Christmas Tree Signaled the Start of the Season.

#christmas  #1950s  #decorating  #christmastree My earliest memories of Christmas, reinforced by family movies, include decorating the Christmas tree, a task that sign. “You can bring the tree in now, Daddy,” mother would call after she had spread an oilcloth on the carpet in the living room where it was to be placed. In the 1940’s, Christmas…

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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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