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Sonny Rollins knew not to die young

How is it that the “Saxophone Colossus” Sonny Rollins lived to 95? Aren’t jazz musicians supposed to die at tragically early ages? Actually, that’s a myth that Rollins and others proved flawed. It’s true that Bix Beiderbecke, king of the cornet, was gone at 28, Charlie Parker at 34, Dinah Washington at 39, John Coltrane at 40. Billie Holiday made it to 44 — not young, but an age that should have been before her time. Some musicians, classical and rock, as well as jazz, reach especially advanced ages. The music stimulates their mind, connects them with others and lowers ...

Why Dems need an ‘Operation Kibble’

There's an ancient, almost surely apocryphal, story about a dog food company executive convening a big sales meeting. A very short version has the exec running through all of the company's advantages: the best sales team, the best advertising, the best packaging, etc. He then irately asks, "So why aren't we selling more dog food?" After a long silence, a small voice from the back ventures a guess. "Maybe the dogs don't like it." The story is a cliche, but a useful one, in business and politics. For instance, the pre-launch internal name for "Netflix" was "Kibble," as a reminder that ...

A nation full of suspects

Some of the recent legal challenges to the use of surveillance by the Department of Homeland Security upon Americans have resulted in the revelation of truly terrifying behavior by the government, in direct defiance of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. We now know that the federal government spies on innocent Americans without suspicion and without warrants. The spying seems to fall into several categories. The National Security Agency, which is in the Department of Defense, employs about 60,000 domestic spies. These are the folks who want us to believe that they go through the ...

Truth about Trump’s big birthday bash

In light of my recent Substack post about Trump’s plans for a Trump rally on the mall to celebrate the start of America’s 250th birthday festivities — designed, in his words, for “patriots” and promising to be “wild” — several of you wanted to know more about how it’s being planned and paid for. This year’s 250th anniversary events, commemorating America’s founders’ refusal to be bound by a tyrant, were supposed to be planned by a nonpartisan, nonprofit group created by Congress in 2016 via a bipartisan congressional caucus of more than 350 members. That ...

State’s OhioSEE program coming clearly into focus

At the end of the school year, Gov. Mike DeWine attended an event at Dublin City Schools elementary school, during which he did a countdown that ended with several young students putting on their prescription glasses for the first time. It was the lead-in for DeWine to talk about the expansion of the OhioSEE program. And, for those of you who remember what it was like to put on glasses and see clearly for the first time, likely quite an effective one. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, OhioSEE has so far administered approximately 1,900 eye exams, with nearly 1,200 ...

Caregivers in need of assistance

Millions of Ohioans are caregivers for family members or neighbors in Ohio. As Ohio AARP Executive Director Jenny Carlson put it, “That’s 1 in 4 adults … holding up our health care system.” As public officials demand greater scrutiny over how Medicaid funds are used for at-home caregiving, AARP has conducted a study that shows many of the adults who are caring for aging parents and other family members are struggling financially — and nearing burnout. “Right now, it’s reaching a breaking point,” Carlson said in an interview with Statehouse News Bureau. “We have an ...