Should we spend it all?
For the past two months, I’ve been writing in this column about the financial pit that we are digging for ourselves as a country. At least, that’s one way of looking at the trillions of dollars of expanding deficits embedded in our federal and state government budgets.Our demographic trajectory (rapidly aging population, expanding longevity, dwindling proportion of current... READ MORE
Facing facts, part II
In last month’s column, I started to lay out some generally well-known facts in hopes they can facilitate an important discussion that I feel Americans need to be having with each other.To summarize very briefly: Thanks to modern medicine and healthier lifestyles, we are living longer. While that’s a good thing for the most part, more and more older Americans are outliving their ... READ MORE
Facing facts
Perhaps because so many readers have recently told me how much they’ve enjoyed my recent columns, I’ve decided to risk spending some of that capital this month by sharing a number of statistics that I think paint a rather troubling picture and lead to some controversial conclusions.Because I can’t possibly lay out all the pertinent facts, much less their ramifications, in... READ MORE
Credit where it’s due
In my column last month, I promised to share more about the awards our writers have recently garnered in national competitions. Each year, we enter a selection of our writers’ original stories in two journalism competitions: those of the North American Mature Publishers Association (NAMPA) and the National Mature Media Awards. This year, we received more than 20 awards at the annual ... READ MORE
A season for thanks
I grew up in Texas, where the seasons were not all that distinct. Sure, the days got shorter in the fall, and many trees lost their leaves.But I find autumn much more tangible here. There’s a change in the air and in the way you feel when you walk outside.It’s almost as if the change in seasons represented a change in seasonings: there’s a different flavor to life, and a... READ MORE
Get expos-ed in October
While the month of May is known as U.S. Older Americans Month, the month of October is the metro area’s Month of 50+Expos.Over a 10-day period this October, there will be 5 days of entertaining and informative events within easy driving distance of Howard County residents who are over 50 or love someone who is.The first such event happens Friday, October 17, right here in Howard... READ MORE
A very special woman
Editor’s note: Just five months ago, my dear father passed away at the age of 93. In this space in the April Beacon, I ran the eulogy that I gave at his funeral.Little did we know that the stubborn cough my Mom had at Dad’s funeral was apparently the same pneumonia that he died of, and she recently succumbed to it and its complications as well. I did not expect to be writing... READ MORE
What do you have to say?
From two brothers reuniting to co-author a novel to a former newspaper publisher recounting her career during the turbulent ‘60s, budding authors have been finding it easier to break into print over the last decade. While it’s harder than ever to make it out of the “slush pile” in traditional publishing houses these days, a revolution in self-publishing means that... READ MORE
Awesome subjects
Expressing awe at anything nowadays makes one appear to be a simpleton, or at the very least, uncool.Of course, my children and their friends say “awesome” at almost any expression of good fortune. But I still think true awe — expressing amazement, wonder or astonishment at something — is a sentiment we are expected to keep under wraps, in favor of a more... READ MORE
Is everybody happy?
When I was in high school, in the early 1970s, the comic strip “Peanuts” was deeply into the “Happiness is...” craze, which, I think, its creator Charles Schulz may have launched. Day after day, the popular strip would present another answer to the question “what is happiness?” by providing a different ending to the phrase, “Happiness... READ MORE
