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Ode to a mysterious pair of abandoned sandals spotted on the shore of the Dunedin Causeway

Mascara-blackened tears streamed Mariella Lontana’s freckled cheeks as she tossed her apron and feathered cap into the dumpster outside the Nottingham Diner. For six years, since the week of her 16th birthday, she had schlepped dishes and poured refills at the Inwood, Long Island, mom-and-pop.  Sure, she hated the job, but Papa’s lectures and the precise snap of his belt taught her that life is…

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From Italy with Love: The Folk Explosion of Kalàscima

Sometimes music can take you over in a feverish, festive dance. During this moment of sweaty abandon you feel inextricably connected with everyone around you, and the past bleeds with the present.

That’s the feeling you’ll get from the neofolk ensemble Kalàscima. The exuberant Southern Italian band performs tonight in Miami in the North Beach Bandshell in celebration of Italian heritage month,…

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Our Collective Responsibility in Ending Mass Violence

Our Collective Responsibility in Ending Mass Violence

We must all take on the social responsibility of ending violence and aggression.

I wrote the following essay in response to a thoughtful Facebook post by Facebook friend Johnny Bardine in reaction to yesterday’s mass shooting at a Baptist church in Texas:

America’s misguided attachment to guns, the industry’s lack of regulation must be addressed in the wake of these mass shootings, but there are…

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The songs I would love to be sampled and who should sample them, video 1 Give Me Back My Man -- Jonelle Monae with Andre 3000.

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Conceptiams: neologisms that define our times, ed. 1

Conceptiams: neologisms that define our times, ed. 1

A collision of the Information Age and our collective unconscious has helped comedians write jokes, Hallmark create greeting cards and made memes an ever present reality. We all want some sort of assurance that we’re not alone in or crazy for noticing a different aspect of a familiar scenario.

We all have shared observations that we sometimes don’t even know we have.

Even when our thoughts and…

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Spot the owl, at McGaugh Nature Park