People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world. Imagine Barbara Streisand’s signature song, “People,” turned on its side. Is it so much luck as it is necessity to need people? Things that are necessary can get the better of us. We mean well, sure, but we still can make questionable choices that come back to bite us. We can tear into, with feral ferocity, the very people we love and need the most. People who need people often overthink situations, thereby complicating our lives. It keeps things ...

If you are looking for something to do this weekend that doesn’t involve apples, pumpkins (and you know I love both) or seasonal crowds, look no further than your nearest SUNY. Yes, that’s right, go back to school. The fact is that 93 percent of New Yorkers live within 30 miles of a SUNY (State University of New York, but you know that) campus.   Another fact, SUNY campuses have robust arts and cultural programming. These institutions, part of a stellar 64 campus educational system, all have their own creative and cultural ...

When my kids were little, I think the only person who got more excited about Halloween than them, was me.  The only issue was that Halloween was supposed to be for kids, not for their candy-lovin’ mamas who supposedly had the maturity of a more sophisticated palate that was better suited to dark chocolate truffles and lemon squares.  But the truth of the matter is, my palate never grew up. It was stuck somewhere in the early ’70s between Milk Duds and Pop Rocks which I would hide between my pet rock and my Shawn Cassidy ...

Last Saturday the Somers Volunteer Fire Department held an open house, where they invited residents to come over and take a closer look at what they do and how they do it. I brought the ever-furry Gidget-the-dog with me, to see if she might take to the lifestyle and consider becoming a firedog. Sometimes a firehouse has a Dalmatian with a lot of dots on it, and when you connect the dots it forms a dog. But I didn’t see one there, so I thought maybe Gidget might volunteer, if I could teach her to slide down the fire pole. The members ...

I always try to watch the last five minutes of the evening news. Unusual, “feel-good” stories are featured during the last segment on all three network news programs. The other night, the segment revealed that the U.S. government monitors nuclear testing activity around the world from an underground cavern in Eastern Tennessee. Tuckaleechee Caverns was one of the sightseeing stops I made on my Tennessee road trip with Mom! On the second part of our four-day road trip, we took the scenic route from Jefferson City towards the ...