We've all been there. Asked to say meaningful and appropriate remarks at some important occasion, we blow it. Maybe we went on too long. Maybe we said something we shouldn't have. Maybe we were expressing some unresolved anger. Or maybe we were deliberately expressing our hostility. If it's any solace, Mark Twain has been there as …
All Essays
What do I "want" to say about New Jersey? And what "should" I say about the "Garden State." I ask, in part, because on December 18, 1787 New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, which I mark with today's #stampoftheday, a 5-cent stamp, issued in Jun 1964 to commemorate the 300th anniversary …
"Electricity! Yeah, you can all thank me," Ben Franklin would have sung in "Hamilton" if his song hadn't been cut. As a result, we don't associate Franklin with a song whose lyrics included, "Do you know who the f-k I am? I am "I am Poor-Richard's-Almanack-writing Benjamin "f-king" Franklin." Instead, we still think of him …
If, like me, you played too much Monopoly when you were young, you already know the man pictured on today's #stampoftheday because Andrew W. Mellon supposedly was the model for the white-mustached man in a black top hat and tails who is an integral part of the game's logo. A banker, industrialists, art collector, and philanthropist …
Somehow, in the midst of all the current craziness, I missed the fact that today - December 21, 2020 - is the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts. As someone who grew up hearing lots about the Pilgrims - and of course being someone who lives in greater Boston - that seems like …
Where have you gone...James Oglethorpe? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo, woo, woo Those aren't the lyrics but they are timely because the eyes of the nation are focused on the U.S. Senate races in Georgia, which was founded as a Utopian scheme by Oglethorpe, an 18th century social reformer who is the focus of …
The great American philosopher Kenny Rogers once sang: "You've got to know when to hold 'em Know when to fold 'em Know when to walk away And know when to run. ...If you're going to play the game, boy You gotta learn to play it right. Our current president clearly doesn't know it's time to fold 'em and walk away. He might …
"From a distance the world looks blue and green And the snow-capped mountains white." I don't know if the iconic picture of "Earthrise" taken from Apollo 8 on December 24, 1968 inspired Julie Gold to write "From a Distance" in 1985. But, I always think of that image when I hear it. From a distance the ocean meets …
In 1962, when the U.S. Post Office Department released a jingle to go with its first ever Christmas stamp. Set to the tune of Jingle Bells, it went: "Christmas stamps, Christmas stamps, making our debut We'll brighten up your Christmas cards, and speed them onto you. Don't delay, mail today, it's later than you think. We'll put them through …