In this world of marketing and other fake news, I think most of us are aware that what things are called influences how we respond to them. People in the advertising industry have known this and used it against us for centuries, as have politicians. In those contexts...

Don’t let the title of this blog fool you, it is not violent in content! I am using the term “hack” in the sense of “life hack,” defined by an online dictionary as “a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one's time and daily activities in a more efficient...

Ever visited a Hollywood back lot or seen pictures of one? If so, you may have viewed street front sets from the side and marveled at how an imposing multi-story brick façade conceals an imagined interior. It is a false front, a single wall supported by braces.  ...

Some weeks are filled with excitement, others rife with drudgery. This week is a combination of both. I’m talking about duty.   Exciting drudgery. Isn’t that an oxymoron?   It’s probably right there alongside the cankered rose of Shakespearean fame, Lily. My...

Pivot! At approximately 3 PM Sunday I removed my Nellie Gilliam Day hat and laser-focused my attention on my upcoming presentation, “Myth-Taken Identities: Using the Greek Pantheon in Fiction.” There is, of course, a simpler way to say Greek Pantheon: Olympians....

Don’t look now, but as of September 22, 6:03 PM (Pacific Time) it’s fall. Yep, that’s next Thursday. I can practically taste the end of summer.   Is it kind of like apple crisp?   There’s definitely a spiciness to it, 9, crunchy grass underfoot sending up...