Go Down Swinging
BY KITT WALSH We Boomers are the generation that protested the Vietnam War, got tear-gassed and locked up in RFK stadium, insisted on being recognized as Ms., not just somebody’s Mrs., fought for...
View ArticleWe Are All Racists
By DON PORTOLESE On September 12, 2001, Jean Marie Colombani of the French newspaper Le Monde declared, “WE ARE ALL AMERICANS.” This was in response to the horrors of 9/11, a tragedy that rocked the...
View ArticleWhat’s Bugging Me
BY BETH PORTOLESE I was trying to write one of these rants every month but I haven’t written in awhile because there are just so many things bugging me that I didn’t know where to start! Every time I...
View ArticleFriendship After 50
BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL “You’re not my friend.” That was Kim Cattrall’s response to Sarah Jessica Parker, when the star of HBO’s Divorce added her condolences to the Instagram group-grieve for...
View ArticleThe Blame Game
BY BETH PORTOLESE Well it looks like the FBI is going to end up taking much of the blame for the recent massacre in Florida of children at school, a place kids used to be able to go to be safe....
View ArticleDirty Harry in The Classroom
BY BETH PORTOLESE Over the past few days, I have listened to our president discuss his solutions to the school shooting problem. The solution he has talked about the most: arming teachers. Ahh, really?...
View ArticleIs the World Scarier Now?
BY MARY JANE HORTON When I was a kid the scariest thing that ever happened in my world was that – every once in a while – a patient from a nearby psychiatric hospital would escape. The grapevine would...
View ArticleReflections on the Vietnam Era on Memorial Day
BY STEVE NUBIE I had a low draft number and Vietnam looked like an inevitable destination in my life. Many of us remember the times, the fears and the frustrations of those days. For many of us in our...
View ArticleWhat’s Bugging Me
BY BETH PORTOLESE It’s been awhile since I’ve been moved to write one of these rants but today I am flying cross-country to Seattle for work. I just got a new job and our other office is in that city....
View ArticleWhat’s Bugging Me
BY BETH PORTOLESE Well it's that time again; the summer edition of my periodic rants. The first thing I want to mention is something I heard on the news this morning. Apparently our president is...
View ArticleWhat’s Bugging Me
BY BETH PORTOLESE Let's talk about Ageism shall we? We all know it is out there in some subtle and not so subtle forms; however, I've encountered a couple examples of it recently that I just have to...
View ArticleA Message To My Progressive Friends
BY DON PORTOLESE At last the election is upon us. And, with it, an opportunity to repair our broken government and standing in the world. For progressives, we are clearly on a course that is neither...
View Article“The Rookie” and Workplace Ageism
BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL “We got some new blood this morning, and some were born before disco died.” The new ABC show “The Rookie” is the nightmare of every veteran worker. As a 50-plus person who still...
View ArticleWhat’s Bugging Me
BY BETH PORTOLESE Well October is over and I'm sad about it. It is my favorite month during my favorite season and it seemed to go by really fast this year. Come to think of it, this whole year is...
View ArticleMy Unexpected Turn Up the U Curve
By HOLLY ST. LIFER My mother died fast of pancreatic cancer when I was 17, and I’ve lived most of my life since waiting for the worst. But when I entered my 50s, for no reason I could conjure, I...
View ArticleCh-Ch-Ch-Changes
BY BETH PORTOLESE Recently a few things have happened that have unsettled me a bit. First the lovely woman who I go to for manicures is retiring. I’ve gone to her every Saturday for several years so...
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