Today is my 48th birthday. I was born on September 30th, 1955 (coincidentally, the day that actor James Dean died.) As a self-indulgent bithday present, I would to share my thoughts on what has happened, what didn't happen and what has really surprised me. A personal perspective, leavened with a touch of humor! The Good- The Number 1 good thing on my list is a "non-event." No Atomic War. I was a little kid in the early Sixties. At the time of the Cuban Missle Crisis, I had just turned seven y...

In a little over two hours, it will be my birthday. Forty-nine years old, or NOT-YET-FIFTY as I prefer to think of it. A time for retrospection and introspection, but not any inspections I hope! "Ya say its yer birthday, well happy birthday to you!" I was born on September 30th, 1955, the day that James Dean died. I was born in Da Bronx, Nu Yawk and lived there until I was thirty. My earliest memories are of those streets. It was always cold in the winter, the boiler in our building wou...