As Thursday blogger Ben Geizhals often says, "That's a blog!", a slice of life which comes upon you with lightning speed, stares you in the face and inspires you to write it down before it floats away. This blog is inspired by my fellow (Lane 2) swimmer Monique Ruane who after reading last week's Friday With Fred blog asked where I get the inspirat …
One of the pleasures (rights) of being a grandparent is indulging (spoiling) the grandkids. Just such an occasion occurred this past Sunday when we accompanied my son Alex and his son Shawn to the Grasshoppers Comics store in East Williston. We arrived when it opened at noon and had the luxury of being the first and only customers. Our son Alex ha …
Jefferson Crowther is the father of American Hero, Welles Remy Crowther, the legendary 24 year old "Man in the Red Bandanna", and the son of Bosley Crowther, renowned film critic for the New York Times from 1940 until 1967. That's a lot of greatness to be sandwiched between, and yet, in his way, Jefferson is the greatest Crowther of all. I say tha …
I belong to 2 Book Clubs, yet I do not read. Rather, I commute to the city by car and listen to books on CD. It is a very nourishing way to pass the time. I belong to an all male book group which is presently reading James Kaplan's great biography: Sinatra: The Chairman. I also belong to the Gotham Book Club. The Gotham Book Club is the brain …
My favorite type of reading (or listening to CDs, as the case may be) is a good biography about the life of an interesting person. Recently I finished those of Whitey Bulger and Oprah and I'm now reading about my former Syracuse classmate Lou Reed. Favorites have been about the lives of Truman, Lincoln (Team of Rivals), TR, FDR, Mickey Mantle, Ted …
When I was a boy my only area of reading interest was sports books and the Encyclopedia of Baseball ( for memorization). Only with the advent of audio books did I slowly catch up on fine literature. When my boys were growing up I indoctrinated them pretty well as to sports, bought them Baseball cards and coached them. Now I have 2 grandsons and th …
Last week Thomas Berger, most famous for his novel "Little Big Man", died at the age of 89. While reading his obituary I was intrigued by another oh his books entitled "Changing The Past" (1989) In which a man gets to go back in time to the forks in his road and take the other path.Wow, what a concept!What would you do? I must admit that I am at …
Fridays With Fred
A perfect way to send you into your weekend