When I think of O.J. Simpson, who died Wednesday, April 10 of prostate cancer at age 76 in Las Vegas, I think of the short story '“Appointment in Samarra,” often retold in novels. The protagonist encounters the figure of Death, and to elude the dreaded specter, runs off to Samarra, only to find Death waiting there at the place where they were destined to meet. You cannot escape fate — or the consequences of your actions, no matter what else you do in life. Such is the Hindu and Buddhist principle of karma.
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Catherine, Princess of Wales' Lou Gehrig moment
Catherine, Princess of Wales’ video announcement of her cancer has brought me to another famous and famously private figure diagnosed in his case with an incurable illness also in the prime of life. New York Yankees’ first baseman Lou Gehrig was 36 when he was diagnosed in 1939 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease that would bear his name. Then as now there were speculations and misinformation, and a private person had to make his pain public. Now as then we are confronted with what it means to be “lucky,” as Gehrig described himself.
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Read MoreCatherine, Princess of Wales, that photo and the limits of privacy
The year is still young but already the Mother’s Day photograph of Catherine, Princess of Wales and her three children — Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte — taken by her husband, Prince William, has become one of the photographs of the year.
The photo caused a sensation for being killed by the Associated Press (AP), Getty Images and Reuters, which regularly supply photographs to news organizations around the world, because it was doctored. Catherine apologized for the clumsy Photoshopping, but that was just the beginning of the firestorm in the media about how the PR debacle came to be.
Read MoreMitch McConnell, Andy Murray and the art of letting go
News that tennis star Andy Murray plans to retire this summer after the Paris Olympics and that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to become a backbencher has brought me back to a very bad summer day two years ago and thoughts of what it really means to let go of a a career — and your ego.
Read MoreTrump, Assange and the Navalny complex
Donald J. Trump is Alexei Navalny, haven’t you heard? And so is Julian Assange.
Indeed, just about anyone with an ax to grind who feels put upon is Navalny, the Russina opposition leader who died mysteriously in Siberia on Feb. 16 just as the Munich Security Conference, which wife Yulia Navalnaya attended, was underway and Russia was making headway in its war on Ukraine, thanks to the Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Read MoreEnvironmental outrage -- whose art is it anyway?
On Jan. 28, activists from the environmental group Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response) tossed soup at Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” to protest the state of the French agricultural system.
The painting 1503-06, poplar on panel), which hangs behind bulletproof glass in the Musée du Louvre, was unharmed and guards soon restored order.
This isn’t the first time the painting has been attacked nor is it alone in its appeal to climate activists looking to make a statement. Their point seems to be we care more about art than the environment. But is that a valid point?
Read MoreThe witch hunting of Taylor Swift, 'secret agent'
When my publisher asked me to write about what has made Taylor Swift a billionaire, I noted that she seemed, as a singer-songwriter who began her career in country and branched out to pop, to bridge the American cultural divide.
Silly me. I should’ve known that everything and everyone in this society at this time can be politicized and thus divisive.
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