One of the strange new cultural phenomena of the present day is the turning away of newer generations from the car culture, which had been a focus of Americana for nearly a […]
Retorts: Cruising back into my history
Retorts: The up side of feeling down
All things considered, there are a lot of good things about feeling bad. I don’t mean a life-wrecking tragedy, or an arrow in your foot. I’m thinking more about your garden-variety stomach […]
Retorts: Crime-fighting is not just for cops
This column is about broken windows. Oh, go ahead and read it anyway. If you’re hip to criminology or urban history, you might know that the “broken windows” theory of crime – […]
Retorts: What I’ve learned over that hill
I am at a stage in my life where I spend a fair amount of time asking myself, “What have I learned?’ When I have lunch with old pals, I raise the […]
Retorts: Warring symbols recall Cold War
Communism in theory is one of the dumbest ideas ever advanced by man, and in practice, one of the most vicious. History tends to point to Adolph Hitler and the Nazis as […]
Retorts: News takes on a different shape
There was once a “war” in Orange County that lasted for years before petering out as both combatants were overtaken by a new and more powerful force. A signpost of that former […]
Retorts: Getting ahead of the curves
One of my favorite books is an overlooked classic from 1991 titled “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It,” by Robert Kriegel. This little gem places emphasis on the wisdom of anticipating change […]
Retorts: Cheers for a sense of community
One hesitates to build a philosophy around a TV sitcom that’s been off the air for nearly a quarter of a century, but I heard the theme song from “Cheers” the other […]
Retorts: The golden pants-cakes affair
We are all getting a big laugh – with a side of outrage – at the incident in which a paying customer was literally dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago […]
Retorts: Pull together is the Main thing
Is “downtown” Main Street in Garden Grove ready for its moment? Hope so, because it’s here. Whether the property owners and business operators in the city’s central business district will step up […]
