Columnists

ECLECTIC RANT: US Government Continues to Neglect Returning War Veterans

By Ralph E. Stone
Friday June 01, 2012 - 07:27:00 AM

On Monday, the nation observed Memorial Day, an annual federal holiday observed in the United States on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day to remember the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. I am a Vietnam veteran who luckily survived my tour with both mind and body intact. But on this day of remembrance for the dead, shouldn’t we also remember the veterans living among us in poverty, homelessness, and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that has led to an upswing in suicide rates? -more-


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Delivering Pizza While Mentally Ill and Medicated

By Jack Bragen
Thursday May 31, 2012 - 04:11:00 PM

In 1988, I was in a difficult position. I was twenty-four years old. I was facing impending eviction by my parents. My parents had suggested that I needed to either get a job or get SSI. Meanwhile, the house I lived in was being sold, per the terms of my parents' prior divorce. In my despair, I decided to try a pizza delivery job, not knowing if I would be able to handle such a job, but acting from limited options. -more-


SENIOR POWER: Religion

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Thursday May 31, 2012 - 02:55:00 PM

Is religion a significant part of senior citizens’ lives. And of senior power? Are most old people religious? Depends on what you mean by “religion” and “religious.” -more-


My Commonplace Book (a diary of excerpts copied from printed books, with comments added by the reader.)

By Dorothy Bryant
Thursday May 31, 2012 - 04:19:00 PM

“Biographies of writers, whether written by themselves or by others, are always superfluous and usually in bad taste.” -more-