Commentary

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! The photo is of my Christmas tree (before I got all the presents wrapped), surrounded by some of my collection of old world Santas. The tree has a bit of a story. When I was growing up, we never had a real tree. My mother had a terrible fear of it catching fire, so we always… Read more

The Dangers of Firing a Critic

Back in September, I wrote about Donald Rosenberg, music critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I was appalled to find that this local newspaper had demoted their classical music critic for, well, being a critic. The story continued today when Rosenberg filed suit against the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Orchestra, alleging that the orchestra and newspaper conspired to… Read more

Did you miss me?

Wow, it seems like ages since I had a chance to sit down and spend some quality time with my blog. Just to explain: I’ve been working on a very complicated and high-profile project at my office, involving transferring both our American and (eventually) our European labs to a brand new computer system. The development has been a long and… Read more

VOTE!

My blog isn’t a political place, but I’m really excited about the upcoming election. I haven’t been able to volunteer as much as I have in the past because of my crazy travel schedule, and that schedule is keeping me home from the big event today: a rally in Cleveland with Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Bruce Springsteen. As much… Read more

Reading & Romance

I don’t usually get material for this blog from People magazine, but I thought this was really sweet: Robin Thicke keeps the romance alive by reading to his wife. I can’t say that I’m thrilled with some of his selections, but I think the idea of reading to a lover is very romantic. I dated one man who was also… Read more

The Dangers of Being a Critic

This morning, I am ashamed of our big local newspaper. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has decided to remove a reporter, Donald Rosenberg, who has covered the Cleveland Orchestra for more than 28 years. The reason? Mr. Rosenberg is critical of the current maestro, Franz Wesler-Most, and the Plain Dealer caved under the pressure. The editor, Susan Goldberg, says it’s an… Read more