Last week, the phone rang in the wee hours. When a call comes that early, it’s rarely good news. This one bore the worst kind of all. The day before, a dear friend’s husband, Ralph, had been doing some mowing at their rural property in northern Indiana. His wife (my friend Cheryl) was at work […]
Because secondhand smoke is a longer-term health threat—rather than something quick like the flu or food poisoning—too
much of society, including the media, overlooks its danger with nary a second glance.
NOTIONS Whole-hog health scare: A deadly double standard The planet is all agog over swine flu. We’re not supposed to call it swine flu. We’re supposed to call it H1N1. That way, the hogs and pigs won’t get upset and U.S. pork sales won’t decline any further. And besides, the disease isn’t transmitted through swine, […]
The planet is all agog over swine flu. We’re not supposed to call it swine flu. We’re supposed to call it H1N1. That way, the hogs and pigs won’t get upset and U.S. pork sales won’t decline any further. And besides, the disease isn’t transmitted through swine, um, “donations” to the human cause. We spread […]
Last week, I made a presentation about social media to several hundred people at a Carmel Chamber of Commerce luncheon. We talked about Facebook and Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, LinkedIn, blogging and more. I didn’t answer the "how-to" question. I answered the "whether-to" question. With some important cautions, my answer was "yes."
Last week, I made a presentation about social media to several hundred people at a Carmel Chamber of Commerce luncheon. We talked about Facebook and Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, LinkedIn, blogging and more. I didn’t answer the “how-to” question. I answered the “whether-to” question. With some important cautions, my answer was “yes.” A self-proclaimed “fogey […]
Because President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev have now dared to raise that tired and trivial matter of nuclear disarmament, you must focus on mundane matters of mass destruction.
We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin. For the next two minutes, you must not agonize, à la my friend Dik, as your 401(k) becomes a 104(k). You must set aside all “move-that-bus” mania. You even must abandon your angst over the next finalist axed from “Idol.” Instead, because President Barack Obama and […]
Hoosiers workers—including those who work at casinos—deserve a healthy, smoke-free workplace.
There’s been much ballyhoo about a new casino here. Called Indiana Live, it sits off Interstate 74 southeast of Indianapolis in a former farm field. There’s a gas station and a McDonald’s across the street. There’s little else. The promoters of last week’s grand opening proved masters of milk-a-controversy hype. Ignoring even the pretense of […]
I went to church Sunday night. It wasn’t a religious experience â?? wasn’t supposed to be, anyway.
I went to church Sunday night. It wasn’t a religious experience-wasn’t supposed to be, anyway. It was a concert by my friend Steven Stolen. When I walked into Trinity Episcopal, many pews were filled. But there was an open seat next to my friend Tamara and her husband, and she beckoned me to join them. […]
On vacation in the British West Indies, we see the decline from just a year ago at this same beautiful spotâ??fewer families at play, fewer retirees strolling arm and arm, fewer young couples slathering one another with sunscreen.
A year ago this week, my wife Cherí and I celebrated our first anniversary with the honeymoon we were too busy to take after our wedding. We told some friends we wanted a place that was warm, romantic and unpretentious. We wanted to wear shorts and T-shirts, not cruise-ship chic. They recommended Turks and Caicos, […]
The bill in question seems like a long shot. It would abdicate government’s responsibility for protecting citizens’ health
and safety, and place it in the hands of individual business owners.
Last night, on my way to the Phoenix Theatre to see “Love Person,” I called and discovered that the play was sold out. And I hadn’t made a reservation.
On the one hand, I’m frustated that I didn’t get to the show…
This afternoon, I’ll be sitting down with IBJ reporter Kathleen McLaughlin and a panel of
At the tail end of an IBJ piece I wrote last week on Xscape, the amusement center at Lafayette Square Mall, I lamented the absence of pinball machines at the facility.
Growing up in the boardwalk town of Wildwood, NJ,…
Free tickets are being offered for theaters throughout the city. But the catch is one you don’t have much control over…your age.
It’s the tenth year for Free Ticket February, presented by The League of Indianapolis Theatres (which, given its name,…
Films that were screened as part of our IBJ Night at the Movies previews scored 13 Oscar nominations.
Ten of those noms were for “Slumdog Millionaire.” Two others were for “The Duchess” while the final one was a well-deserved Best Original…
