Authors

What if your ectoplasm ends up hovering over a squabble about whether to sell or store your maternal grandmother’s wedding present? What if no one has any interest in my prized first edition of Wallace Stegner’s collected short stories complete with a long inscription? So what, if no one wants that little nude? I forgive them if they donate all those watercolors I did of barrier island scenery after visits to Cumberland Island. more »

Many people want to change something about themselves, such as improving their looks, their mind, their future. The question, "Can I change my eye color?", was posed to me recently. As an optometrist I was surprised and, at the same time, yet not. Eye color does change sometimes in our lives, so why not try to control it? more »

On August 18, 1966, I was a civil rights worker in Mississippi when the Jackson Daily News devoted two-thirds of an editorial page to outing me as a "professional agitator" with Communist associations. Over 30 years later I learned that this material was prepared by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, an official agency using taxpayer money to preserve white supremacy in Mississippi. more »

When I was young, I hated New Year’s — the whole shebang, beginning with New Year’s Eve. The forced gaiety. The pressure to be happy! It was all so depressing. The worst part was that if I didn’t have a date for New Year’s Eve, it cast a pall on the next twelve months. more »