95 Piccadilly

Recently, the idea of colonialism has been highly contentious news, oft-criticized as ethnocentric, consumed by the idea that global colonization remains limitless and full of the plunder of small nations and their people, even in the modern world.  So, of course, recently, as I was choosing a color to paint my office, colonialism possessed my…

Merry Christmas!  Though we continue to sing about it annually, adding our own revelry and spirit along the way, we’ve almost forgotten, globally, that today – December 29th – marks the fifth of twelve days of Christmas. Historically, while celebrations continued throughout the 12 Days, it was the last day – January 5th and not…

Even when we’re young, there is something intrinsically nostalgic about Christmas. It’s in the way the boughs hang from staircases and across mantles, red baubles and plaid bows, and trees lighted like stars glistening by night, and it’s easy, as children, to suspend our worldly beliefs and welcome in a Dickensian realism, if only for…

While the church calendar says it’s only Advent, the next season, Christmas, has seemingly sprung up all around us.  Perhaps because, these days, we are seeing it even before Halloween, it sometimes seems hard to find the Christmas spirit, despite our best efforts.  After all, it seems clear that a modern Christmas isn’t exactly what…

When Margaret Mitchell wrote the grande finale of “Gone With  the Wind,” I wonder if she did so with the clarity that makes all novels, they say, autobiographical.  Toward the end, the dashing Byronic hero of the story, Rhett Butler, utters these words:  “I’m through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see…

Recently, in order to stop singing the blues – likely the result of elections and too many news broadcasts – I began watching old videos on YouTube. The videos were mostly from the 1980’s and early 90’s, years of my childhood, consisting of mementos of memorable Christmas sitcoms, Bob Hope Christmas Specials, and a myriad…

Special moments sneak up on us.  In reality, we don’t always know that we’re experiencing the extraordinary when in the immediate throes.  In that regard, special moments are like a white cloth absorbing red wine:  the realization spreads gradually. When we look back over our lives, be we young or old, we can often see…

Social media is a tool that connects the world.  It makes the world the smallest it’s ever been. We can reach across the globe with a click of a mouse and impact someone in a country to which we’ve never been. During COVID lockdowns, when our lives seemed to be otherwise spinning out of control,…