Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Why Songs Get Stuck In Your Head
It’s happened to all of us (especially Disney collectors!). You hear a song, or maybe a couple of bars, and it’s stuck in your head forever. At least it seems like forever. And it doesn’t have to be the actual song; it could simply be a memory trigger, like a movie poster. Your nemesis is
How Having A Baby Gets Complicated
How difficult is it to have a baby? For most people, it’s not all that complicated (and I’m sure I don’t have to explain it to you). But if you are two men from Israel, wanting to be a biological father (in their case a baby for each of them) required two wombs, four countries,
The Counterfeit Aretha Franklin
While the music world mourns the death of Aretha Franklin, I was reminded of a recent story about a woman who was lured into impersonating the Queen of Soul. Mary Jane Jones of West Petersburg, Virginia was blessed with a remarkable voice and cursed with a difficult life. Married at 19, her first husband died
What’s More Important — Patriotism or Free Speech?
Today the test-of-patriotism spotlight is on professional football players, but in 1942 it was on Jehovah’s Witnesses. Specifically, two elementary school girls from Charleston, West Virginia. At that time, West Virginia required all students and teachers to salute the flag. Jehovah’s Witnesses objected because they believed this violated the Bible commandment against worshiping images. Gathie
Something Just For Fun
This is original writing, just not by me. It was sent to me by a friend, and was attributed to the New York Times’s annual lexophile competition. “Lexophile” describes those that have a love for words, such as “you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish”, or “To write with a broken pencil
If You Think I’m Strange…
We have never completely understood the human brain. In some ways, we’re actually frightened by the strange behaviors we’ve seen around us. Yet out of strange behavior can come remarkable gifts, like extraordinary insight and creativity. Science journalist Helen Thomson has written a book to explore the brain’s unusual characteristics. Entitled Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey
Watch Out For Charity Fraud
I try to support as many charities as I can, particularly with regard to veterans. But unfortunately, one always has to do some “due diligence” before donating. One of the best sources I’ve found for checking a charity is the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance ( https://www.give.org/ ). Recently I’ve received an email from
So How Many Love Languages Are There?
I’m definitely not a love expert, but when I heard about the book The 5 Love languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman, I was intrigued. What happens to love after marriage? Why do so many marriages fail so quickly after the knot is tied? Mr. Chapman, who does marriage counseling and
The Trend Toward Unique Children’s Names
For my generation, “Bob” was a very popular name. Almost every organization I worked in had another Bob or Robert or Bobbi. But now, when I take a substitute teaching job, it’s unusual to have a Robert or Bob in the class. Or John or James for that matter. I’m not imagining this. A Goldman
How to Remember Names
One of my great social frustrations is an inability to remember names. So I was intrigued when I saw an article entitled “Why You Forget Names Immediately — And How To Remember Them” by Jamie Ducharme. Why is remembering names so difficult? According to the article, there could be several reasons. The first might be