September 23, 2020
In the May 2020 issue of Smithsonian magazine I came across an intriguing article titled, “A Half-Century of Trips,” written by Ted Scheinman, (a writer and scholar based in Southern California). This features a subhead that reads, “Americans have steadily become more dedicated travelers, despite historic setbacks.”
September 17, 2020
This is the first thing I saw when perusing the 50th anniversary issue of the Smithsonian magazine for April 2020. This eye-opening 10-page article (with spectacular photos) is titled, “The Ship in the Ice” and concerns a topic we’ve all been hearing about for years, e.g., global warming.
September 09, 2020
The pandemic this year has affected all of us in many ways. Two things that stand out in my mind: people definitely need people (to paraphrase the song “People” sung by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl). The phone, email, computer, TV and all the other digital creations we use DO NOT take the place of human interaction. We all need to see and talk to each other. That said we have also learned that we can work at home very efficiently and handle our normal workload if necessary. Never commute again? I don’t think that will happen, but perhaps we’ll find a happy medium – time will tell.
September 02, 2020
I have often found that when a person achieves incredible success – after a long struggle – the back-story is almost as fascinating as the achievement itself. That’s why I was interested in, yet another, Andy Warhol write-up that appeared in the May 2020 issue of the Smithsonian magazine.
August 26, 2020
Can you imagine? It took 20 incredible years to create this great cultural institution. This bold statement on the very first page of a fascinating eight-page article caught my eye at once. It appeared in Vogue magazine of April 2020 and was superbly written by Leslie Camhi, a Francophile, memoirist, mother and cat lover. How’s that for a modern, well-rounded writer?
August 19, 2020
I swear that I have been looking at shelter magazines such as House Beautiful, Architectural Digest and Traditional Home since I was a toddler. But I don’t think I’ve ever looked at one of those super-glam photos and said to myself, “I could move in that place tomorrow and not change a thing!”
August 12, 2020
I’ve never been able to pull it off BUT I’ve always wanted to go to Australia – everything I’ve heard about it fascinates me. That said I often watch those “survival” TV shows where a person takes a wrong turn in a desert, forest, mountain or the outback and is lost for days on end. Then an “outdoor survivalist” comes on and says, “If only they had done thus-and-so – they would have had food and water.”
August 05, 2020
Over the years, the airline industry has experienced many twists and turns – and one of the most remarkable has been the evolution of the stewardess or airline hostess. That said I was stopped in my tracks by an article in Travel & Leisure, April 2020 titled “Taking Wing.” It featured a photo of a flight attendant’s dress from 1965 and was skillfully written by Ann Hood who has delivered a detailed on-the-scene report.
July 29, 2020
In a city like New York, that has a population of close to nine million, it’s great to know that there’s something for everyone. This gave me the idea to write about fun and/or favorite spots in all five boroughs, namely: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. So, in this blog we’ll cover places I’ve personally enjoyed over the years and spots mentioned in an article that ran in Condé Nast Traveler magazine in April 2020. Here are five slices of the Big Apple:
July 22, 2020
Roughly eight years ago, I was chatting with a young lady in her twenties when she started raving about something called “Birchbox.” I stopped her at once and said, “What on earth is Birchbox?” Well, she looked at me as if I had two heads and said with dismay, “You don’t know about Birchbox!”
July 15, 2020
Over the years, I have heard a number of comments about Wang that go like this, “Of course she has money, she’s the daughter of a Chinese warlord.” I didn’t have the slightest idea what a warlord was and still don’t. This was followed by, “Her parents supported her until she was 39-years-old.” This was said because it was known that Vogue paid modest salaries.
July 08, 2020
Let me begin by saying that I’m a big believer in “luck.” But then, I’d like to add a caveat: a lot of effort can often lead to good luck. In fact, I think they are intertwined. A person cannot stay in bed, pull the covers over one’s head and hope for a lucky break. Nope, won’t work – you need action and drive to have good luck.