This is a blog for journalists, authors, and those who enjoy reading and learning. Here you will find a variety of posts about all forms of writing–from fiction and non-fiction to the news media and journalism. It is produced by a former foreign correspondent and journalism school dean.
Accomplished wordsmith William Safire once defined a gap between the generations as “a frustrating lack of communication between young and old, or a useful stretch of time that separates cultures within a society, allowing them to develop their own character.” That’s a pretty good definition. But it doesn’t tell the … Read more…
In the past week or so two stories caught my attention. One decried the growing wealth gap between the young and old in America. The other highlighted the growing difference between older and younger Americans on issues such as social values and morality. Should we be surprised by either of … Read more…
When President Obama scrapped the U.S. Manned Space program via Presidential fiat recently, he signaled to the world that the U.S. was ceding its leadership and expertise in space exploration to nations like China and India. In one of the most arrogantly oblivious declarations any president ever made he said … Read more…
Most Americans, I believe, would prefer to think of China as a friendly nation with a different political and economic perspective of the world. While the U.S. remains committed to a free-wheeling form of capitalism and a democratic system of government where power (for the most part) is lodged with … Read more…
In the late 1980s most political pundits were writing off the United States as the preeminent economic power in the world. Japan, they insisted, had supplanted the U.S. as #1 and Americans watched as Japanese, rife with cash, bought up trophy properties from New York’s Rockefeller Plaza to the fabled … Read more…
Don Agrella (R) & Ed “Lou Grant” Asner (Middle).Tribune Metro Editor Bernie Judge is on the left OK, right off the bat, I will tell you Don Agrella would have yelled at me if I ever called him City Editor “Extraordinaire.” But the fact is, Agrella, who passed away at … Read more…
Rome Airport (Just Kidding) So far, in recounting my recent European vacation, I have talked about the German and Italian people, the drivers, my impressions of cities, food, etc. And the news on that front was mostly good. Now comes the bad news. Getting there. Short of teleportation (a technology … Read more…
Ron at Trevi Fountain. It may be apocryphal but Yogi Berra, the former N.Y. Yankee baseball player and master of malapropisms is credited with this quote about travel: “I took a trip around the world last week, and you know what, it hates each other.” I think I know what … Read more…
I just returned from a visit to Germany and Italy. And I must say, it is good to be home again. Southern Germany–specifically Bavaria–is a stunningly beautiful place, with picturesque villages nestled in mountain valleys, lots of pristine forests and great beer! Italy, with its great food, its ancient Roman … Read more…
I began covering China in 1972–the year President Nixon made history by flying to Beijing to meet with China’s aging Communist dictator Mao Zedong. That trip established diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China and eventually opened China’s heretofore closed markets to international commerce. In the interest of full disclosure … Read more…