Skeptophilia

Like many people, I've at times been in the position of having to interact with narcissists. I'll not name names, but two, in partic...

How often have you heard a friend mention an odd characteristic of a mutual acquaintance, and follow it up with a statement like, "Well...

See this innocent-looking face? This is Cleo.  She's a Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed (the name means "underbrush dog" because th...

I really am extraordinarily lucky. Following the breakup of my (all things considered) disaster of a first marriage, I had pretty much figur...

A few weeks ago I was in my office working, and while writing on my computer I was listening to the London Symphony Orchestra (under the dir...

A man is discussing his fears about dying with his parish priest. "Father," he says, "I'd be able to relax a little if I ...

My mother was born Marguerite Thérèse Ayo in the little town of Schriever, Louisiana, on August 10, 1920, exactly a hundred years ago.  She ...

Being a fiction writer, I think about villains a lot. Of course, the proper word is "antagonist," but "villain" is a l...

The brilliant Scottish poet Robert Burns packed a lot of truth in these four lines: O, would some power the giftie gi'e us To see our...