
BOSSA NOVA II: WATERS OF MARCH
When my two daughters were young, I used to look forward to Friday night. The school week was done for all of us and we could kick back...

BOSSA NOVA
When I was a young boy, profound changes in popular music soon had a powerful impact on me and on much of the world. Its genesis came...

THE AUTOMAT
Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart captured the essence of America with one brilliant, liberating, egalitarian, high-concept idea a little...

A CONSPIRACY OF HOPE
For most of my life, there have been musical extravaganzas in order to raise money or awareness or both for one cause or another. When I...

MILKMAN
One of my very earliest memories involves a milkman! My mom was taking me to visit my granduncle, as I recall, and drove me a few miles...


WORDSWORDSWORDS#9 (Vers/Alright)
"For all their bluster about bombing the Islamic State into oblivion, neither Donald J. Trump nor Senator Ted Cruz of Texas have...

THE VOICES (Part I)
Recently, I assigned a reading from Benjamin Dreyer's delightful examination of English language usage, Dreyer's English, to my AP...


CHRISTMAS MOVIES Part I
More than forty years ago, when I returned from a decade in the Midwest to start teaching in New Jersey, I provided my students a service...


BOSS LIFT
Throughout my years as a school administrator, I often engaged with the two people above me in my school district. One of my fights...


LESSON LEARNED
My teaching career has run just short of fifty years, and I have learned many valuable lessons along the way. Students take advantage of...