Currently Browsing: Opinion

We Still Love Muscle Cars

OUR ROMANCE WITH MUSCLE CARS— Okay, I admit it.  Rather than a muscle car, I drove a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle when I was in college and through the first several years of my working career.  But I did have buddies who were fully wrapped up in the “muscle car” craze that swept America in the 1960s and 1970s.  And, yes, I was jealous when they revved their high-powered GTOs and Mustangs at a stop sign to attract the girls,...

Smart Phone Slavery

    SMART PHONES, NOT-SO-SMART PEOPLE. My daughter went to a Taylor Swift concert recently, and she was texting all night long instead of listening to Taylor whine about her old boyfriends.  Something’s wrong with that picture.  A multi-Grammy Award winner deserves more respect. Shortly thereafter, I was at a performance by Patti Lupone.  She grabbed the cell phone from a woman who was texting during a song, and she didn’t give it back until the end of the...

Run, Candidates, Run!

  HAVE YOU NOTICED? I’m a political junkie, totally hooked on the upcoming presidential election. And, boy, is Presidential Election 2016 providing me with a lot of entertainment! No soap opera could come up with a plot like this one!   I’ve lost count but I think we started out with something like 18 candidates between both the Dems and the Republicans. I’m not sure what we’re down to but the number is still “huuuge.”   What stands out to...

This Week’s Baby Boomer Humor

ACT TWO INVITES YOU— We’re inviting you to chuckle along with our growing collection of baby boomer humor.  Whether you like visual gags, sarcastic quips or just-plain-silly nonsense, there’s something here for you.  We’ll be adding new content every week, so visit often!  If you see a witty quip, image or joke related to Baby Boomers, send it to us here:  mail@acttwomagazine.com. Warning:  Baby Boomer Humor Ahead!             Good old Sam-I-am! We need an alternate...

Reflections on the Rim of a New Year

The worst part about New Year’s Eve is that it cuts into my routine: sleeping, for example.  It’s the only time of year I am forced to stay up beyond my bedtime.  By 9:00 on most winter nights I am already snug in my robe, engrossed in a good book.  But on December 31st that changes.  I plummet into forced frivolity, attired in my traditional green taffeta dress, attending a party with people, who on any other night, are...

Bibliomaniacs Unite!

  TOO MANY BOOKS IN THE ERA OF FACEBOOK? The other day, my friend Michael called me, pretty proud of himself because he took a serious step toward “downsizing” by getting rid of 1,000 books, which he donated to the annual library sale.  I imagine he’ll also take a hefty deduction on his income tax. “Why don’t you do that?” he gloated, eager to tell me how to live my life.  Some people have all the answers.  What made...

10 Commandments for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH. OPINION – It really appears that the area I live in is in the midst of an epidemic of breast cancer.  I cannot figure out if this is true because we are fortunate to have access to some of the nation’s best doctors and thus we are reported on with more accuracy and frequency or whether we are, in large proportion, a privileged pocket of educated people who have in many cases the...

Remembrance of Summers Past

I started writing this blog about five years ago when I suddenly realized that I was much wiser than everyone else.  I attributed this wisdom to the fact that I was in the second half of life and had therefore acquired a perspective on absolutely everything that one can have only after acquiring “a history.” You learn a lot passing through the years. If you pay attention, absolutely everything that you see, hear or that happens to you has...

Yoga Music: The Road to Nirvana?

EXCUSE ME, IS THIS THE ROAD TO NIRVANA? I’m taking a new direction in life.  I’m on the path to self-enlightenment and lower blood pressure.  In order to control the thing we Italians call “agita,” I started listening to yoga radio.  No Taylor Swift, no Rihanna, no Coldplay. Even though I listen to yoga music, I don’t take yoga classes, although everyone I know does and they keep telling me it’s something I should do.  They say I need...

The American Healthcare System

AMERICAN HEALTHCARE: ARE WE LIVING LONGER? To use the vernacular in a droll way, discussions on America’s healthcare have “gone viral.” Let’s add to that. The primary object of “healthcare” is, and always has been, to keep us alive and in good physical and mental shape longer.  Objectively everything else is subordinate.  With that as the premise, it is logical to look at how long we are expected to live, hence the term average life expectancy. Average Life Expectancy,...