Is this just an old man thing? I find myself shouting at the radio a lot lately. Fortunately, it USUALLY only happens when I’m alone in the car. I first remember this happening about twelve years ago, so I was 53 – not particularly old, so maybe it’s not an old man thing, just an … Continue reading
This is just a tale of an oddity. Or maybe it isn’t so odd… Pictured is a plant that I have come to refer to as the THE MUTANT SNAPDRAGON. The plant popped up sometime this past spring – seemingly out of nowhere. There was a time when we had snapdragons, but that was long … Continue reading
You’ll soon be having Thanksgiving dinner. This is the one meal where we’re prone to having ALL our relatives together – including the ones you can’t stand (remember – relatives are people you don’t get to choose.) Uncle Loudmouth goes into his usual tirade about something or other – a very unpleasant and controversial griping … Continue reading
It’s hard to navigate the current clouding of gender language. There are places where you can get in legal trouble for addressing someone with the wrong pronoun. It would be simpler if the thought police just outlawed pronouns altogether, wouldn’t it? But then there’d probably be people who’d label REFUSING to use any pronouns as … Continue reading
I write fiction. I am often asked (even by myself) where these ideas and characters come from. We are all different – what goes on in our minds, what we decide to let out. Each of us exerts a certain amount of control over our unbidden thoughts. Some people don’t have any (or are totally … Continue reading
Yesterday (Sunday), Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his den (actually, he was extracted), and could not find his shadow (I’m not surprised – I have a hard time seeing anything when I first get out of bed in the morning, especially if I’m awakened against my will. I’ve heard that those fun people from PETA want … Continue reading
How do you know if you’re crazy? And if you know, then are you? Usually, we determine whether someone is crazy by comparison – are they seeing the world the same as the rest of us? Is their concept of REALITY a match with what we KNOW to be true? That’s how echo chambers and … Continue reading
I have a fondness for Groundhog Day – the movie where Bill Murray is a self-centered cynic forced to spend time in a small Pennsylvania town to do a news story about the traditional sighting of Puxatony Phil on Groundhog Day. Except he stays in the town for one day – and lives that same … Continue reading
Can a writer or anyone else identify when they’re crazy? I know I’m not the best judge for myself, although I try to err on the side of YES, I AM (it’s probably NOT much of an error.) The fact is, we go through phases of our life all the time when we’re crazy, we … Continue reading
(“I” is an easy letter – there’s “IN” just about everything…) Close to a year of multiple Trump/Russia collusion investigations have yielded NO EVIDENCE, JUST INNUENDO. Why do we have a Special Counsel? It’s because a disgruntled former FBI Director (a man whom both sides have thought should have been fired) retaliated by LEAKING his … Continue reading
William Mangieri's Writing Page 