The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

My fellow Americans, we have failed.  We have failed, as a people, as a nation, and as human beings. We The People, permit far too frequently, the murder of our young. I don't give a damn which 'side' you think you're on. In allowing these murders to continue, you have failed. I have failed. We have failed. Now before anyone starts rambling on about their 'rights' and the God-Damned 2nd Amendment (which most of you have probably not actually read), think about this: WE MURDER OUR OWN CHILDREN! Just because YOU or I didn't squeeze the trigger does NOT mean that WE ALL don't SHARE THE BLAME. Guns are too easily obtained. Plain and simple. Serious, reasonable background checks are not unthinkable, and shouldn't be unthinkable. Proper licensure AND insurance coverage should be mandatory. You want to own a gun? I have no problem with that. You want to hunt or protect your home? Again, no problem. BUT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. Every round fired by anyone reflec...

 Some of you may (or may not) know that I'm learning another language. For reasons of my own, I've decided to teach myself Bulgarian. This also includes learning an entirely new (to me) alphabet! While it might seem daunting to some, I see it as a fun (and useful) challenge. I think I'm doing pretty well so far. Rather than use standard learning tools, I'm mostly teaching myself. I'm approaching the experience from more of a behavioral perspective. How do babies learn language? They usually start by hearing it. Then learning to associate sounds with meanings. Then mimicking the sounds and ultimately forming sentences. Then after a few years of babbling, reading and writing is usually taught.  I already know how to speak at least one language well, and can read, write, and formulate ideas in it. I can mumble my way through a couple of others. In my years in show biz, I've had the pleasure of working with people from a number of different countries, many whose pri...

With yet another birthday looming large on the horizon, my mind wanders around the years behind me and the (hopefully) years ahead. While some find it amazing that I'm still alive (I often wonder how myself) it's really not surprising. I've tried to keep my health in the 'ok' range most of my life. I was born premature and spent the first part of my life in a plastic box (incubator). The only human touch I felt was via rubber gloves reaching into the box. As a kid, my health was never great. I managed to contract chicken pox, mumps, and measles at the same time. I caught every cold or flu that came around. Tonisilitis? At least count, I've had it over 30 times. The docs never even considered removing them until I was nearly 50, at which point it was considered maybe not the best idea. Infections? Damned near every organ in my body has had some sort of infection. Lungs, kidneys, stomach, liver, I practically lived on antibiotics until my 20s. At 12 I was diagnose...

 I'm turning 57 in a few weeks. Not ancient, but definitely not young. My grandfather died at 57. I have that in the back of my head. No, I don't see myself croaking any time soon, but even if I live to 100, I have more years behind me than in front of me. So what am going to do? I'm teaching myself to speak Bulgarian! And yes, that involves learning not only a language, but also a whole new alphabet. This is a gift from me to me for me. I think it's a shame that American schools don't do more to teach students to be multilingual. Back when I was in school, we could study Spanish, French, German or Russian (which was eliminated before I even finished high school). I can't say that I know anyone who took these classes who became truly proficient in the 2nd language they studied. 3 years of German and I speak it about as well as I did before taking the classes. (OK, I had some German speaking relatives, so that helped) I got straight A's all 3 years. My senior...