Plan On It I read this online the other day:  “Cleveland police say an 18-year-old serial carjacker was arrested after his accomplice couldn't drive a stick shift — even with some coaching from the victim.”   This was a “serial carjacker,” an experienced hand at such nefarious activities, I suppose.  I also suppose that nowhere in his crime plan was the possibility that the chosen car...

It’s Taxing It is that time of year again.  Polley and I gather scraps of paper, unopened envelopes with documents inside, and receipts from a variety of health care providers.  Manila packages crammed with papers in our laps, we drive the slow, apprehensive-filled car ride to our tax accountant.  It is a pilgrimage that is as old as time…or as least as old as civilizations that realized that...

Recoiling At The Lack of Recalling Memory is a funny thing.  When I was teaching I would marvel at what my students would remember----and not remember.  “Hey, Mr. Maltese, you wore that same tie the last three Tuesdays in a row.”  This from Freddy who could not answer my question, “What novel did we finish yesterday?” or “Who wrote Mark Twain’s book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?”  I...

Apostrophe to Punctuation   I was intrigued by this headline in a well-respected, big city paper.  “Parents’ Object to School Board.”  What object, I wondered, did parents send to the school board?  A petition for less homework?  A number 2 pencil symbolizing their frustration with the testing mania?  A dead fish wrapped in newspaper a la mob style signal? Reading the article did not...

“Perchance to Dream” Hamlet Polley and I grew up on an interesting cusp of American history. Born in the late 1940’s, we were raised by parents who survived the Great Depression and World War II, and who ingrained in us the work ethic.  Polley’s father usually responded to his children’s trivial (and not-so-trivial) complaints with “Stop your bellyaching!” I once told my father I was bored.  He...