As far back as I can remember — which, if ya must know, was right after Ike took office (Eisenhower, not Turner) — there were three focal town-wide events. They were Winter Carnival, Memorial Day and Fourth of July. Each holiday was chock-full of activities that ran the gamut from the ...

Western civilization’s traditional day of rest is Sunday, but for an uber-retired Dope like me, they all are. So it’s doubly ironic that last Sunday was a day of activity for me. Then again, there was no way I was gonna be home, sittin’ on my dupa and miss our Pride fest in Riverside ...

When I was a tot, the prevailing philosophy about teaching children to read was not to start too soon. I think they believed if reading was presented too soon (whatever age that was) kids’d be permanently scarred. I don’t know if that’s true, but it didn’t matter, since later on we got ...

By any standard, I’m a Creature of Routine. As a result, though I have neither job nor quotidian obligations, my life is as tightly circumscribed as a Trappist monk’s. I get up, take out the dogs, then feed them and the cat. Next, I reheat yesterday’s coffee while making today’s. Once ...

Last week in Walgreen’s I ran into an old pal, Mike Shene. Then again, he’s a hard guy to miss, since he stands about 6-foot-5-inches in his stocking feet. Mike and I go way back. He lived in Bloomingdale, where he went to grade school. Then for seventh grade he came to Petrova, which is ...

One of my favorite jazz singers is Dinah Washington, and my favorite song of hers is “What a Difference a Day Makes.” It’s a romantic ballad (maybe even a shlocky one) about how the day before Love Found is completely different from the day after. But the difference ‘tween one day ...