Writing

There’s a website you may know that encourages writers to open a free account, allowing them to put a call-to-action button at the end of their posts, on their websites, newsletters, etc. The CTA button allows their grateful readers to buy them cups of coffee. I won’t name it because you can find it yourself if you must and because I have no desire to promote the concept.

At the risk of offending someone (and I most assuredly will), I have one question for you: Are you a writer or a panhandler? Sorry, but there’s just no nice way to…

When I first saw Bernardo Bertolucci’s film The Last Emperor, I was fascinated, not only by its artistry but by the realization that the story was new to me. Not once in all my years of schooling did I recall learning anything about what happened to China’s Imperial family after the formation of the Republic of China in 1912 and or when the Communists took over in 1949.

The schools I attended focused on American and European history. We kids could find China on a map (How could you miss it?), but…

The specter of her father’s genius dominated her life, while her mother, a genius of a different sort, was determined to eradicate any tendency she had to emulate him. But Ada Lovelace, daughter of poet Lord Byron and mathematician Anne Milbanke charted her own course between the rocky shoals of her turbulent heredity. She didn’t see poetry and mathematics as the enemies her parents were to each other but as collaborators in something new and altogether different.

A history of mental illness

“In the case of Lord Byron, the clinical hallmark of manic-depressive illness is its recurrent, episodic nature, which Byron had in an almost…

As I understand it, Misbah, the $200 in in addition to what the stories earn on their own, not instead of. BTW, I’ve already heard of someone who was invited to apply who just heard they were rejected, so they are definitely not accepting everyone they invited.

History

Queen Victoria was a newlywed the first time an outsider penetrated palace security. Dressed as a chimney sweep, a young teenager found his way into her bedroom in 1838. His name was Edward (aka Thomas) Jones, and he was obsessed with Her Majesty. Luckily, the Queen was not in residence at the time and was spared the encounter.

Who’s been sleeping in HM’s bed?

It’s a rare occurrence when an actor turns down not just one but three plum roles in major motion pictures and goes on to unparalleled screen stardom, but that is exactly what María Félix, whom the New York Times called “the goddess of Spanish-language cinema,” did.

Félix passed on lead roles in Duel in the Sun, The Barefoot Contessa, and The Legend of Lylah Clare, which subsequently went to Jennifer Jones, Ava Gardner, and Kim Novak. Instead, she focused on Spanish-speaking roles, starred in 47 films, and died at 88, leaving a multi-million dollar fortune. Maria did it her way.

Early life and suspicions of incest

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In). The word “condition” has several meanings. One of these is “an illness or health problem that lasts a long time and affects the way you live.” Do you have a condition? A lot of us do.

Conditions? I’ve got a few. Most of the conditions I have aren’t terribly serious, at least not at this point, but at one time in my life, I did have one that was. It lasted for years and dominated my life, but it shouldn’t have. It wouldn’t have if I hadn’t embraced it…