Public speaking is everyone’s nightmare, but giving a commencement address whether at Harvard or your granddaughter’s pre-k, is a special form of torture. Yes, I know it’s an honor and all that, but you know, in your heart of hearts, it’s a no win situation. First of all, no one is really interested in what you might choose to say. And if you come up with something really clever, I can assure you, it’s already been done. The best you can do is to make them laugh a couple of times and stay in their seats until it’s over. For some obscure reason, those of us who are asked to risk this form of public humiliation take our...
I lost a friend last week. No, it wasn’t a surprise. The tumors in his brain finally got the upper hand. The fact that I knew it was coming makes it no easier to accept. You can see from the title above that I still think of him in the present tense, and I suspect that I always will. That’s his character. Although I have known him for well over half my life, there are others who can give the particulars of his life, fully lived, far better than I. There have been times when I’ve not seen him for stretches of time, but when we reengage it’s as if I’ve seen him every day of my life. In many ways our lives seemed to take...
Al-dawla al-islamiya fi al-iraq wa al-sham. There you have it. This is the full name (in arabic) of the group that is currently terrorizing large swaths of Iraq and Syria by using inhuman terror techniques more familiar to the middle ages. They also have a significant number of the citizens of the civilized world shaking in their boots and shaking their fists clamoring for retribution and then destruction. As I previously opined in a piece about the former dictator of Libya, Muammar Khadaffi, it’s nigh well impossible to focus on an enemy if you can’t agree on a name for the evil. Let’s see, Obama and his crowd insist on referring to...
Never let it be said that I’m afraid of tackling the tough stuff. Any one who writes about god in Texas better be a preacher or a converted sinner. I am neither. I’m not taking a secular nor a religious approach to the topic. I’m going to try to deal with the subject as my old history teacher and wide receiver coach, Wally L., would have. Only the facts…names and dates in particular. This is not the place for, nor am I inclined to evangelize a point of view. I’ll let you decide for yourself if any of this makes sense. For source material I’ve relied on the research of cadres of academics who never tire of writing about...
The words in the title of this post, absent the (un) are inscribed above the main entrance to the Supreme Court building in our nation’s capital. It is a noble sentiment to say the least, and some would say it is the corner stone of our system of jurisprudence, not to mention, our democracy. But it’s not exactly a new idea. The earliest evidence I’ve found appears in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian Wars wherein in he cites Pericles’ Funeral Oration in 431 BCE; which really wasn’t a funeral oration but a paen to the glory of Athens. Sidebar: I can never see the word Peloponnesian without thinking of the football...
They’ve been having parties of all sorts at the White House for…well, for a long, long time, and I’m sure they’ll be having them long after I am gone. But this one was different. I was there. To be accurate, my darling wife, about three hundred solid citizens (only a few of which I knew, and I were there. This was one of several White House Christmas receptions in 2013, or maybe they now call them Holiday receptions in an effort to be perfectly politically correct. Come to think of it, I did see a lot of Christmas trees, but I don’t remember seeing any angels. I know for a fact that they also have at least one Hanukkah reception...
After 30 years in the world of big business, Gary “retired” to pursue long ignored interests. While continuing his involvement in the corporate world by serving as a director of several public companies, he has, among other things, traveled the world in pursuit of the perfect bird photograph, served national and local charities as a director and donor, developed a personal web site as a platform for his writing on subjects of personal interest, and, occasionally, taken time to smell the roses.
Gary and his wife Sandra, shuttle between their condo in Dallas and their farm in Fannin county, Texas where they indulge themselves in organic gardening, long walks and entertaining friends and family.
