Monthly Archives: February 2012

My most important leap: 8 years (or two leap days) ago today

My family never went to church when I was growing up. But I vividly remember, from a very young age, believing that there had to be some sort of higher power. To me, it always seemed logical.

When I was in high school, I started to do some reading on various religions. Judaism really appealed to me. I took a humanities class where we spent a quarter going over comparative religion. It was an interesting experience. Continue reading

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Filed under Family, My Life

Critical look at “Once upon a secret,” new book about JFK

Last week I gave high praise to the new book Once Upon a Secret: my affair with President John F. Kenedy and its aftermath by Mimi Alford. I believe that it’s a well written and enjoyable book. That being said, I do think that it is at least fair to mention that some of Alford’s claims need to potentially be taken with a certain degree of scepticism.

In her discussion of working in the Kennedy White House, many of the people she claims had knowledge of her affair with the president are now deceased. Furthermore, given the nature of her relationship with Kennedy, it was hidden from outsiders, which makes her claims difficult to verify. To believe what is said in the book, we essentially have to take Alford’s word for it. Continue reading

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10 years ago today, I broke my jaw

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons

As I sit and look out the windows to the light snow that has fallen over the past day, I think about how diametrically different this year’s Valentine’s Day is for me from where I was at this point a decade ago.

In my 26 years of life, I’ve only broken one bone. It was my jaw and it happened on February 14, 2002. Continue reading

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Ohio State basketball: why it’s time to panic

On Saturday, the Ohio State basketball team lost to Michigan State by 10, snapping a 39 game home winning streak. The Bucks shot just 26 percent from the field, their worst home shooting night in 15 years. It was their third loss in conference play, and despite the fact that this team is still ranked in the top six, I think their longterm prospects of success in March are highly questionable.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe that this team is going to continue to succeed and win games. I still think that they will win the conference and that they will be a 1 or a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament,. I’m not worried about any of that. I’m not suggesting their suddenly going to tank. Continue reading

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Filed under NCAA, Sports

Once Upon A Secret: the insightfully fascinating book by a JFK intern/mistress

Late October. 1962. 
 
America is in a panic as the U.S. and the Soviet Union appear to be close to the brink of nuclear war. The early morning hours of October 28 would prove to be the final hours leading up to the peaceful conclusion of the Cuban Missile Crisis. But in the days and hours which led to that safe conclusion, there was tension. In our nation’s capital, some were readying fallout shelters, while others wanted to get as far away from Washington as possible in the actual event of war.  
 
But for a young woman named Mimi, she lay “sleeping like a baby, wrapped in soft linens, in a bedroom on the second floor of the White House.” Continue reading

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February 8, 2012 · 9:37 pm