TGIF or ‘Farewell Friday’? The depressing week that was

October 7, 2017

I’m not inclined to depression – nor do I think I have anything but a great life, no matter what its challenges – but I find myself facing each Friday as if I’d just run a marathon with rocks tied to my ankles.

This is a recent phenomenon. OK, it began when Donald J. Trump became president. For certain, not everything that has happened can be blamed on him – certainly not the three hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Maria) with Nate waiting in the wings to strike the Gulf Coast this weekend. Or the mass shooting in Las Vegas. But I know I am not alone in saying that we arrive at the finish line each workweek, crawling, panting – drained and depleted. ...

Las Vegas and the literature of rejection

October 2, 2017

I was working on a story about Emily Katz Anhalt’s new book, “Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths” (Yale University Press), when I decided to take a break with The New York Times online. The headline hit me in the gut:

“At Least 58 Dead and 500 Hurt in Las Vegas as Gunman Rains Bullets on Concert.”

The suspect, Stephen Craig Paddock, 64 – and, according to Las Vegas Police, also dead by his own hand – was described as a quiet, unassuming man with no criminal history by his understandably defensive brother. Of course, he was. The president called for peace and unity. Of course, he did. ...

More adventures in publishing: The Westchester Review

October 2, 2017

On Thursday night, I joined several other writers represented in the current issue of The Westchester Review for a reading at Barnes & Noble Eastchester. My thanks to The Review for publishing an adaptation of a chapter from my new novel “The Penalty for Holding” and to B & N for hosting us. It was another illuminating experience, which proved to me once again that each audience is different and that a reading must be adjusted – often at the last minute – to that uniqueness. ...

The beast in the jungle: Tone in the era of Trump

September 28, 2017

Is President Donald J. Trump racist?

It’s a question that has threaded his virulent response to the NFL players kneeling before the National Anthem to protest racism and his passive-aggressive approach to Puerto Rico’s suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

I don’t think Trump is a racist. Indeed, I don’t like to think of any American president as one. But I do think that he is a joyless, mirthless person who takes no pleasure in other people and strikes a misanthropic tone. ...

The Kaepernick Knee keeps trumping the Donald

September 26, 2017

Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives Minority Leader and sometime new BFF (along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer) of President Donald J. Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd Sunday that she would like to see the president as more of a unifier.

Well, Nancy, you have gotten your wish. Seems like the NFL is united – against the president.

Of course, that’s not the way El Presidente saw it. Here’s what he tweeted after players took a knee during the National Anthem in protest ...

Local Authors Book Festival

September 26, 2017

Writers like my pal novelist Barbara Nachman https://www.fashionmystery.net/ were front and center Sunday as Barnes & Noble Eastchester’s Local Author Festival came to a close. But the fun continues.

Join me and other writers whose work appears in the new edition of Westchester Review as we read from our works Thursday, Sept. 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. I’ll be reading from the story that became the basis of the second chapter in my new novel “The Penalty for Holding,” about a gay, biracial quarterback’s search for identity in the NFL. ...

‘He got game’ – not: Trump, race and sports

September 25, 2017

We think of sports and the arts – as House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi described them to “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd – as the great unifiers.

That’s partly because we expect athletes and artists of every ilk to entertain us in a manner devoid of politics. The thinking goes that since artists and athletes make a lot of dough – well, at least those in the popular sports and arts do – they should “play” and keep their mouths otherwise shut.

But what happens when politics interjects itself into sports and the arts? ...