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Natural Sleep Is A Sometimes Gift

I sometimes have trouble sleeping. I’m blaming lack of sleep for all my bad decisions, and often for forgetting my purse. I need every excuse I can get. Last spring, I finally decided to try the natural sleep supplement Melatonin. Whoa, that’s good! If I needed some help to Slumbertown, 20 minutes after a Melatonin gummy, I was on the path. Zonk. Occasionally I needed two. But it wasn’t until a two-fer night that I finally read the directions. “Thirty minutes before bedtime, take two supplements and allow them to slowly dissolve.” Two Melatonins? The recommended dosage? ...

Old Bridges Of America

Driving south toward Key West, the road narrows, the sky spreads out, and the sea becomes your constant companion. It’s one of the most beautiful stretches of pavement in the country. But somewhere before Marathon, your eyes snag on something off to the right — something that doesn’t fit with the turquoise water and the postcard-perfect horizon. An old bridge with broken railings. Rust is bleeding down the concrete like old wounds. And grass — wild, waist-high grass — is growing straight out of what used to be a proud engineering marvel. The Old Seven Mile Bridge was once ...

One, Two, Three, What Are We Thankful For?

In 1969, a band called Country Joe and the Fish performed a song (written in 1967 by Country Joe McDonald) at the Woodstock Music Festival gathering at Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, NY. Included the lyrics, were the words “…and it’s one, two, three, what are we fighting for?” The song was a satirical protest of the Vietnam War, and was titled “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die.” Five days from today we will be celebrating my favorite holiday, the one requiring nothing more than a hearty appetite, a pillow on which to lay our heads to nap after devouring the feast of the day, ...

The Changing Face Of Warfare

Sadly, new technologies are often tested first in warfare, on the battlefield—not in commerce or for civilian use. For example, a new technology made its debut in World War I—the airplane. Initially thought of as a remarkable new invention to transport people and goods at speeds and distances never imagined—it became an effective intelligence gathering and killing tool over the trenches and battlefields of France. I suppose that if you go way back, to prehistoric times, the same kind of thing happened. The spear was probably invented to protect settlements from predators and to ...

Anticipating A Different Thanksgiving Proclamation

On the cusp of our nation’s 250th birthday, the Pilgrims can’t be ignored. Not only did our nation have its roots embedded in the Mayflower Compact written “in the name of God,” but their enduring legacy is evident in our country’s recognition of thanksgiving to God. The first presidential proclamation of thanksgiving in 1789 by George Washington read: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor… [let us] all unite in ...

The Dog Days Of MAGA

The Trump administration has gone to the dogs—in more ways than one. It’s well known that Trump doesn’t hold “man’s best friend” in high regard, and a trend is emerging where dogs have become unwitting pawns and casualties in the war over empathy. Trump is the first President since Andrew Johnson to not have a canine companion or other pet in the White House and has deployed the term “dog” to demean women he dislikes or finds unattractive. In the 2024 campaign, Trump repeated the racist, thoroughly debunked lie that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were killing ...