Running for Your Life: Live at "The Jazz Palace"

Now’s the time. The worst of the winter is past and official spring is only spitting distance away. Winter had such a hold on us this year that we could be forgiven for losing sight of the fact that we were very nearly upon the season of the speakeasy: to toss our toques and scarves aside and don our spats and flapper dresses.

 ’Cause we’re about to be live at The Jazz Palace http://bit.ly/1AWKSSS.

The link tells you everything you need to know. First, that my wife Mary Morris is about to share with the rest of the world the novel, “The Jazz Palace.” Soon the characters I’ve lived with for years – think Don Draper of “Mad Men,” Walter White of “Breaking Bad” – will be fictive flesh.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the world thinks of Benny Lehrman, the drama king of “The Jazz Palace.” But like “MM” and “BB,” you might be drawn more to others on the novel’s stage: Napoleon Hill. Or Pearl Chimbrova. Opal or Anna. Or Mister Marcopolis.

Click on the events button http://bit.ly/1AWKSSS. It will be filling with details in the days and months ahead. Your town or city isn’t on the list? Get in touch with your local bookstore. In a book club? Put it on the upcoming reading list. Maybe the author herself will come to discuss it.

Be ahead of the curve, because in no time at all the book will be everywhere. Everyone is invited to be there. To be live at “The Jazz Palace.”    

Next: Running for Your Life: Liberals Dead Tired of Hillary II

Running for Your Life: If-The-Greats-Were-With-Us Thursday

This is how Eugene O'Neill would respond in a tweet to a $1 million offer to write a screenplay for Harvey Weinstein:

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No .No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Next: Running for Your Life: Live at the Jazz Palace

Running for Your Life: Liberals Dead Tired of Hillary

So, go ahead call me anti-Hillary. There are arguments to be made for Hillary, but here is the essence of the two pro-Hillary arguments, given the odds-on eventuality of her winning the 2016 Democratic nomination:

A vote against Hillary is a vote for the Republicans (read Bill O’Reilly and his two running mates). Besides, it’s time for a woman to be president.

Does the single name Hillary – think Beyonce, Rihanna, Madonna – imply talent and gravitas? Or showmanship? Talent in Hillary’s case is a cynical attempt to distance herself from the legacy and policies of her husband. That’s just not okay, or so say the members of the emerging iPAC, Liberals Dead Tired of Hillary.  

We in the growing segment of Americans who are tired of Hillary would like to exercise our votes, not stay away from the polls because we can’t find it in our hearts, minds or souls to vote for a Clinton, or God forbid, a third Bush.

It is past the time for liberals to beat the drum in support of candidates who are not Hillary (i.e.) Bernie Sanders http://bit.ly/1B7I6Ob or, even, Jim Webb http://bit.ly/1Gl9GMb.

Maybe we need a shrewd Nixon-like leader for the next eight years. Not Nixon? Who do you think Hillary was learning from by not allowing her official Secretary of State emails to become an embarrassment to her presidency. Look at what the official tapes did for Nixon’s. Watergate, oh, and read the Blood Telegram http://nyti.ms/1Gl9Sei and tell me that Hillary wasn’t trickier than Dick to NOT take the risk of having her SOS emails unearthed.

Domestic politics under Hillary? Here’s a quote for you: When most of the population either does not know or does not care that the lowest socioeconomic classes live in something akin to a police state, we should be greatly concerned for the moral health of our society.”

Where did that come from? That bulwark of economic social justice: The Wall Street Journal, in a review of The Divide by Matt Taibbi http http://nyti.ms/1gwlOwv, a must-read treatise on the injustice in the age of the wealth gap in the United States.

And how did the Clintons (yes, a vote for Hillary is a vote for Bill) figure in this. It was the Clintons who re-demonized blacks in a nakedly cynical grab for the southern vote by promising to “end welfare as we know it.” What’s more, while pandering the stain of black economic dependency to prejudiced white voters, they were overseeing the deregulation of financial markets so that the rich would get richer. Reagan may have been responsible for the evil of trickle-down economics, but it was Clintonian policy that did the major damage, that accelerated the wealth gap to the point that eventually led to the protesters of  …..

While the Clintons ended welfare as we know it, they built welfare-fraud police into something reminiscent of the Soviet system. Taibbi writes:

“Welfare fraud was prosecuted [under the Clintons] like never before, and welfare fraud investigators multiplied like rats in every state in the country, forming unions and lobbying agencies.”

Taibbi goes on: “ [The Clintons’] political formula for seizing the presidency was simple. [The Clintons] made money tight in the ghettos and let it flow freely on Wall Street. [The Clintons] showered the projects with cops and bean counters and pulled the cops off the beat in the financial services sector. And in one place [the Clintons] created vast new mountain ranges of paperwork, while in another, paperwork simply vanished.”

It may be time for a woman. But Liberals Dead Tired of Hillary sure don’t think this is the one.

Next: Running for Your Life: What If The Greats Were With Us!

Running for Your Life: Embracing Slowness

It’s inevitable. As you age, you simply don’t move as fast as you did your prime. And that’s a good thing. Consider it your body’s way of keeping you active and avoiding injury.

I’ve written here before about the fuzzy term of listening to your body. Just exactly how do you do that?

In my case it has come about through a routine that hasn’t varied since the middle ’70s. In the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s I ran every other day at an eight-minute mile pace, and in the Zeroes every other day at 8:30 and in the past five years, closer to 8:45.

Slowness, of course, isn’t limited to road work. These days I try to give myself more time to get to work, or to prepare a meal, get to a movie or a play. And this winter slowness has been a natural response to all the ice and snow we’ve had.

In a car, we slow to the condition of the road, walking the dog in the park, we slow as we climb slick banks and negotiate black ice pavement. Why? Because falling isn’t an option. Our bodies are so much slower to heal with age.

Do you equate slowness with boredom? Protect the body through exercise and eating and drinking responsibly (cutting down on booze at night), and you’ll sleep more soundly, and most important, protect the mind. We are slower, but critically, we don’t, if our mind is sharpened by embracing the idea of slow motion, feel slower.

That’s the beauty of being a human. Mind over matter. We can literally convince ourselves that we are only as young as we feel. As  the old man runner (see image at right) of my blog so enthusiastically declares: Reverse Age That Body.

Next: Running for Your Life: Live at The Jazz Palace  

Running for Your Life: If-The-Greats-Were-With-Us Thursday

Here's today's quote in the popular feature that is sweeping the digital nation .... With special thanks to my creative friend and wordsmith, Kirk Nicewonger.

"What doesn't kill you will come back to finish the job."
                                                                           – Friedrich Nietzsche