I know enough people in New York to make it worth my while to visit the city. I think their camaraderie is what keeps me returning here a couple of times every year.Heck, my best friend lives here.I’m glad he does. I’m glad I have other close friends here as well. More than a handful […]
OKEECHOBEE, Florida — Aubee Billie couldn’t miss this occasion. Her father was celebrating another birthday, and she needed to be here for it. “Seventy-nine never looked so good,” she told the 125 or so well-wishers who joined her on this warm Saturday. They all knew what Aubee Billie knew, which was her father, Jim Billie, […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — I guess the appeal of working and texting is universal, because even here, in this world-class capital overflowing in riches, you see that men and women under 30 are tethered to their iPhones.Perhaps I wouldn’t have been surprised had I gone to Malaysia with more research behind me. Instead, I played […]
VIENNA, Austria — I see why travel sites like Travel & Leisure often rate Vienna as the best city in the world to visit.I have no reason to argue with the choice.Yet I only sampled a small piece of Vienna. How can you see it all in six days? My travel plan was to mostly […]
It’s difficult to let loose a sidekick that followed you around the world. From Buenos Aires to Bangkok, it had been with me all the while. Like most things, it outlived its usefulness. So I said farewell this morning to my MLB.com duffel bag. The internet company gave each of its writers one. Some never […]
I know how much most of us long to keep things the way they were, but I’ve come to realize that such a belief makes little sense. The world is in constant change, and if I didn’t know that for certain, I do now after spending five days in Las Vegas.For almost two decades, I […]
TOKYO — I’m amused whenever I hear people who should know better tell stories about a stupid thing they did. Put me among those storytellers. While abroad, I thought about the stupid things I’d done after I read what Kevin Hart, a 44-year-old comedian who ought to know better, did last month in his tango […]
Conservatives have long insisted that less government is better. They often talk about wanting Uncle Sam out of our private lives. They want Americans free to live life on their terms. Unless that American is a woman. Oh yes, conservatives want to control a woman’s womb. They argue that abortion isn’t a freedom; it’s a […]
I wish I didn’t have to pay a high price for living in an all-Black neighborhood. Walk through Glenville, and you will find not a single Starbuck or a Smoothie King. A sit-down restaurant like the Olive Garden or Applebee’s sounds like a winner, right? But not on the East Side of the city. I […]
I spent seven days in Vancouver, B.C., visiting Nick, my best friend. He’s an actor filming a TV series there; he’s also a young man who is less than half my age. But I think Nick nor I doubt the depth of our friendship — one as genuine as a friendship can get. I wish […]