Professor J's Place

Saturday was the six week anniversary of working out at the gym. Of course, I did have two and a half weeks when I was sick and didn't attend the gym at all, but for the most part, I'm there every day. I am getting much more stamina in the gym. I used to think 30 minutes on the treadmill was good, and now I walk on the tread mill only after I've done the "real" workout. I see it as a way to cool down. I've even started to do "core work" (groan) every day. I'm still working twice a week with Adrian and now, I look like this: Okay, maybe not so much. I have been shocked, to tell the truth, at how slow my weight loss has been. Of course, exercise is only part of the solution, but I am more active than I have ever been, and I thought that activity would do the trick. I guess that folks were telling the truth when they said that it's hard to lose weight when you're approaching 50. Nevertheless, I have lost a couple of inches, I do feel stronge...

I n 1995, I spent ten glorious days in San Francisco, walking through the neighborhoods, eating falafels, visiting City Lights bookstore, and glorying in the environment. There were two highlights of my trip. One day, after visiting Coit Tower and those marvelous murals, I walked down an improbable street that is really a stair case, and saw the infamous Parrots of Telegraph Hill . And, I was there when Jerry Garcia died. Why was that significant? Because the hippies came to San Francisco from every corner of the world. They drove their VW Microbuses to the Haight, and there were impromptu altars on three of the four corners of Haight-Ashbury (there was no shrine in front of The Gap). I remember walking the streets with my friend Lisa (who was ten years younger than I and who had never heard of The Grateful Dead) and I told her that this day, this time, was the closest I could ever come to experiencing the summer of love . I was a tad too young to experience the San Francisco of t...

You all know that I am a die-hard Senator Clinton fan . I have loved her and supported her through campaign misteps and misstatements in large part because she offered us the first (and possibly only) opportunity to vote for a good person who was also a woman. But now that is over. I keep hearing that there are many women who are sad and angry and ready to vote for Senator McCain. I keep hearing that women need a reason (besides the war and healthcare and Roe) to vote for Obama. Okay, my feminist friends, here it is. Carol McCain. Carol McCain is Senator McCain's first wife. She is the woman who waited for him while he was in Vietnam. She is the woman who had a tragic automobile accident while John was a prisoner of war and had to undergo losing much of her mobility, four inches of her height, and much of her "classic" beauty without his help. And then McCain returned from Vietnam and opted for the life of a playboy and a star without his faithful, and still beautiful wi...