Once or twice a year I get drafted to participate in the creation of dinner. By that I mean The Wife issues a set of specific instructions that The Husband (me) is obligated to carry out, no questions asked.As a non-foodie, a man who would starve to death left on my own, I am rarely asked to perform even the most menial food preparation task. Once I smushed potatoes through a ricer and a few years back, after setting three timers and distributing a blizzard of Post-it notes, I...
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President-elect Trump — and that’s a phrase I never thought I’d write — met Thursday with President Barack Obama at the White House for the very first time. It was a largely symbolic event designed to reassure the world that a peaceful transfer of power is still possible in America even when the outgoing and incoming presidents hate each other’s guts. So far both men have done an excellent job masking their true feelings since that momentous moment...
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In my former life as a New Yorker I worked in Times Square, where once a week my office mates, Sid, Scott and Merrill, would pony up for lunch at Al’s Delicatessen on 43rd street....
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I will not write about the election! I will not write about the election! I will not write about the election! I will not write about ...Hey, how ’bout them Dodgers? Can you...
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The back door slammed shut, and John Henry Reed went directly to his bedroom. There, as if on auto pilot, Jack Reed, as he was universally known, flipped open the cylinder of his .38 revolver and...
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Earlier this summer The Wife made a key lime pie that was so delicious, so gloriously good, I nearly cried when I swallowed the last bite. I tried to prolong the inevitable end, breaking...
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Jim Hoffa, aka James Hoffa Jr., aka “Don’t Call Me Jimmy Hoffa,” is the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the same union his long vanished old...
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Joe Clement was a crusty old Irishman who lived in the little wood frame house next to my grandmother. He’d nod if you said hello and it was okay to go on his lawn and retrieve a stray...
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The name Wells Fargo was money in the bank.Literally. ...
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Too busy to vote? Yeah, I’m talking to you! The guy reading this newspaper. The same guy who’s going to spend 11 hours every Sunday watching football. You! The lady...
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Mild-mannered and always polite National Public Radio has finally raised the white flag of surrender. Like nearly every other public forum on the web, NPR’s site had become populated ...
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It could be me. With caller ID, it is possible the people I call see my phone number and deliberately let it go to voice mail. I imagine them saying, “Not him again!” or...
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Another broken political promise. I promised myself I wouldn’t say one word about the political conventions, and here I go writing about them. But I have no choice. Really....
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Garry Marshall was one funny fellow.He was professionally funny. He was naturally funny. He was also supernaturally kind.In a business not know for its generosity, Garry set the...
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Pleassse forgive the tYpos.It’s dArk here under the BlanKets and I can’t really see the key8oard.A week that began with the assassination of five police officers in...
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In a corner of my house, in the front room, is a mysterious pile of shopping bags and gift boxes filled with I know not what. This is The Wife’s pile, a stash of housewarming and hostess...
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The moment had finally arrived. After a thunderous five-day artillery barrage, the shrill sound of whistles pierced the early morning silence. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers from across...
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On October 19, 1781, on Virginia’s Yorktown peninsula, column after column of British soldiers marched in file as they stacked their arms, the final act of capitulation to a combined...
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Late last week the coolest of American presidents lost his cool. The Big Orange Thing finally got under President Obama’s skin. For 40 continuous minutes Barack Obama unloaded on...
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Not long after arriving in Los Angeles I landed a job as a writer on a TV series. The show was not good. OK, it was horrifically awful, maybe the worst show in the history of television....
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