The blogs on this site are meant for true independent and original thoughts on many topics. What they are not for is a way to taunt other members, political rants, or short blurbs with no journalistic quality. Please keep that in mind. Thank you.

Most people think of heroes as people who do amazing selfless acts to aid those or act on behalf of those they do not know. And while this is true, most heroes are just everyday people facing everyday trials and tribulations.  Tonight I lost a friend. She was one of the bravest people I have ever known and she was a hero to those of us who face chronic illness. Seven years ago, my friend...

Souvenir A picture postcard A folded stub A program of the play File away your photographs Of your holiday And your mementos Will turn to dust But that's the price you pay For every year's a souvenir That slowly fades away Every year's a souvenir That slowly fades away Words and lyrics, B. Joel Souvenir. From the French word...

What is the nature of internet friendships?  Recent events in my life have me pondering this question. I have come to the conclusion that there are differing perceptions of what a internet friendship is.  Looking back on my experience I have had to ask myself some serious questions that I am sure many of us here have encountered. I think it comes down to several questions.  What does it mean...

I wrote this almost 4 years ago and I can't believe that my daughters will be graduating from college this May. I thought it was worth the reprint, since we all get caught up in the trivial things in life, that we don't even notice it going by... and life is but a dream.  So it's the day my daughters graduation. A moment I had been both looking forward to and feeling a bit blue about. My...

The book "Tuesdays with Morrie" told the very touching story of a man named Morrie, a retired philosophy Professor, dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The book was written by a past student of Morrie, who made it a point to visit his mentor every Tuesday and gain Morrie's pearls of wisdom before he died. I read the book and thought the story was...

Souvenir. From the French word meaning to remember. We collect souvenirs throughout our lives. Occasionally we take them out from their dusty boxes, the scrap books we carefully constructed, or the photo albums we put them in, and look at them and remember. But the real souvenirs are the ones that are not physical, not the ones that we can actually see, but the ones that made us who...

What seems like a lifetime ago, I had a very close friend, Jesse. He was everything a person should be. He was kind, good natured, brilliant, athletic, and very handsome. But to me, he was a great pal, someone I could talk to and would keep all my secrets. We cared about each other in that very special way that happens only every now and then with guy-girl friendships. We were getting...

When my nephew was about two and a half, we began no notice that he had a peculiar habit. He would arrange his cars in size order. When you changed the order of the cars, He would quickly change the cars back order from smallest to largest. He would persist in this activity, and get increasingly upset each time you changed the order of the cars. Soon after, we began to notice that everything...

Crumpled bits of paper Filled with imperfect thought Stilted conversations I'm afraid that's all we've got You say you just don't see it He says it's perfect sense You just can't get agreement In this present tense We all talk a different language Talking in defense My childhood friend and stylist to the stars, Phillip Bloch, wrote an article to his deceased...

A while back I had a debate with an old friend of mine about a discussion on the percentage of gays that make up our population. I had told him that I had seen an article by the AMA that said that 9-10% of the population was gay. He said it was more like 3-4% During this debate, we went back and forth on the numbers, but my main point was that we would never get a clear number, since being...

As a New Yorker and a 9/11 survivor, I will not deny that I find the security of New York City of theutmostimportance. After 9/11, the NYPD developed on of the most aggressive intelligence agencies in the nation. It's goal was simple. Covert surveillanceof the Muslim community to get information that could lead tothwartingany further attacks in NYC. As a New Yorker, I support these activities....