A hot topic recently was the First Pooch. The media roiled with speculation: what kind of dog would the President-elect’s family choose? The President-to-be told the press that the family dog would likely come from an animal shelter, adding, “It will probably be a mutt—like me.” To some, calling oneself a “mutt” smacks of self-deprecation. […]

Much has been written about a “White House garden” even to the absurd extent of tearing up the front lawn and planting vegetables and herbs—a giant kitchen garden.  Ghastly.  While I sympathize with the proponents, I disagree with their tactics, as well as over zealousness.  In short, they’re not thinking like gardeners. If they wish […]

Here’s a set piece, so to speak, written for the newspapers.  The title refers to Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock, a fashionable book in my college years, and is a pun suggested by my friend, Fayette Hickox.  It was about the coming drastic changes wrought by the technological advances of the 60s, and had an apocalyptic […]

Three years ago this spring I wrote an op/ed piece for the New York Times (my third) about the then raging “natives versus exotics” controversy. They called it “Border Wars” and it contained a typo (8,000 versus 12,000 years ago for the recession of the last glaciers, due to my confusion over BC and AD).  […]

Thanks one and all for the thoughtful feedback about Space Genie.  It was meant to be light-hearted.  Please understand I shall not post readers’ mean-spirited attacks or dyspeptic rants. Sorry if I slightly missed the mark. I appreciate “true believers” and understand your passions. Maybe I’m a bit the same way. I was attempting humor, […]

  As we slog into the New Year, I want to share one of my personal enthusiasms with readers.   This pastime requires little or no expense, can be done with minimal or no equipment, and engaged in wherever you happen to be. It can be practiced in solitude or with others. No batteries or […]

“Nice place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit”, I muttered to myself last week as I wove around Manhattan.  My midtown hotel was practically empty and the traffic light for mid-December—a terrible season for retailers.  In the hotel bar guests stared glumly at each other, mostly Brits and Europeans.  The waitress said, “A […]

I had the chance recently to experience two institutions you wouldn’t think at first glance were alike.  Over a few weeks I visited a well-regarded liberal arts college and later a famous casino.  The bizarre similarities were both fascinating and disturbing. Who benefits? The college is bookish, so it’s not surprising that the professors were […]

We published a first version of this light-hearted piece in early 1996 in our old ‘Burpee Home Gardener’ magazine.  However, I announced later that I was actually forming the Garden Party—and I did!  The Philadelphia Inquirer covered it and CBS radio interviewed me “on the street” in Chicago, where I attended a few small rallies […]

Steve Tobin has been my friend for almost 20 years, during which time I’ve watched his work change from glass to metal, and from large to enormous. We decided to exhibit some of his latest sculpture for the next 18 months on our lawns and meadows here at Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The following […]