China continues to enforce some of the world’s strictest internet censorship. Its "Great Firewall" has evolved into a sophisticated digital barrier, using AI and keyword blacklists to block foreign websites and ideas. Even searches like “freedom” have been flagged and restricted. While many had hoped younger leadership would change the system, the opposite has happened. The goal seems clear...maintain control by limiting access to outside perspectives. 

Do you remember the Animal House movie and, more specifically, the "Road Trip" exclamations?Well, I'm endeavoring to set up a family/sports fan road trip to iconic Fenway Park, home of the Yankees' arch rival Boston Redsox and the "Green Monster" left field wall.  

A recent article in TimeOut (first forwarded to me by our son who has transplanted to Alexandria, Virginia) reports that Long Island is now one of the sexiest accents in the United States.It got me thinking about accents. I guess we all have accents.

I’m not really a fan of the Home Run Derby. I get that it takes a lot of strength and coordination to hit a baseball out of the park, but I prefer games where there are more in-field hits and a chance to watch skilled fielding.

I was recently chatting with a friend about the traits that make for success.  The premise of our conversation was to be profession or vocation agnostic and try to get down to what traits cross all types of work and are the bedrock of a successful career.  

I need book recommendations.   We have a pool in our backyard. Usually, on the weekends, our kids come to enjoy the pool. Those days are filled with family tumult. Always fun but, definitely, tiring.   If we’re lucky, my husband and I would have one day over the weekend alone to enjoy the pool by ourselves and relax. My husband loves to putter around the pool. He has a hand vacuum that he loves to swim around the pool with.  

So I receive a text 4:00 p.m. last Monday afternoon that Fox 5 News seeks to interview a representative of group I am involved with for their telecast that begins just over one hour later.  The group's president, Susan Lee, who sent the text, and a former city council member and retired jurist, Kathryn Freed, who we prefer to use a spokespersons, are in transit and cannot do it.

I found an old note yesterday while leafing through my phone. It's a quote I typed in over 5 years ago. I’m not sure where it came from originally:   “Effortlessly flowing through life doing what I love to do.” Now that is a state of being worth striving for.