April 7, 2015

Barack vs. Bibi, Round __

Forgive me for wondering whether the daily dealings between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are taking a page from the Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed playbook -- without the Marquees of Queensberry Rules.

Actually, now that the Israeli election is over, this bilateral bickering more resembles a tawdry soap opera -- Dallas with a Wild, Wild West Bank plot twist. Here's the Hollywood pitch: The saga of an American President and an Israeli Prime Minister, world leaders and longtime allies from democratic nations who simply can't get along despite having far more important things to worry about in a world, and region, that is in complete disarray.

April 3, 2015

Returning to Where It All Began

Nearly twenty years ago I published my first book, a novel-in-stories, Elijah Visible. It followed, in postmodern fashion, Adam Posner, a child of Holocaust survivors, who appeared throughout the book in different guises and geographic locations; even his age and occupations varied with each chapter. The story was not told in chronological order; the inversion of time and space, the fracturing of reality and imagination, were among the many contradictions that appeared with nearly every turn of page. The names of his parents were different with each story, too. The only constant was that, in each tale, they were soon to die, or were already dead.

April 2, 2015

NIT at MSG: March Saneness

All the hoopla will be lavished this weekend on the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament, which tips-off in Indianapolis and will be on the minds of betting pools and bracket-card holders all across the country. Of course, there is another college basketball tournament that is even older in age and stature than the NCAA, which was once, in fact, the "Big Dance" that the best college teams wished to get invited to and claim its title.

April 1, 2015

Flashback: Miami Beach, 1972

The time and place of How Sweet It Is! was a novel just waiting to happen.  It was during that year, 1972, when Miami Beach, such an otherwise small city, might as well have been the center of the world.