Famished Writer

  Photograph by Orren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J. Modified with Photoshop by PM_Poon and later by Dantadd. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. A re men better than women at math? I have often wondered if this is a genetic tendency just as men have better spacial (not special) sense than women.  Since women are wired with a stronger sense of smell you would think I could smell a sexist generalization, but I sense that there may be something to this. As a writer, the common stereotype applies, I personally prefer letters to numbers, and especially abhor word problems but love logic puzzles. How’s that for typical? And since there are writers of both sexes, I guess that generalization is more grandiose than Texas. I digress, after watching a match genius on The Ellen Show , who is of course male, and who could add 10 numbers in seconds after they were flashed in (fast) sequence, I was astounded at his skill. It is a skill, he confirmed, not a “gift” as some may conclude. He wo

Image By Roberto Hoyos (http://throwboy.com/images/icons/Polaroid_fd01.png) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons. I t’s no secret American’s are obsessed with their “things”, we invented hoarding. In fact, if you ask Donald Trump, he’ll tell you we invented “things” themselves. Most Americans will also agree that there are certain “things” that are more “Uh-mare-kun” than others; like Coca Cola, Levis, Elvis, Apple Pie and baseball (but don’t mean to blow your blimp-those last two are really adaptations of other nations traditions). Nothing is (capital t) Truly more American than the starving artist. No, is that Parisian? Okay, nothing is more American than the dejected, rejected (aka self-employed middle class) ‘creator’ of anything. Creating is hard in this country. And while I particularly love salmon, I am sick of the thought of all this fighting upstream is just to end up where I started and die. No, persistence doesn’t always “pay off” in cash, but it is the key to happiness, es