Eulogy For My Brother, Ronnie.

My brother, Bernie, died from suicide, the result of alcoholism and depression on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1996. My brother, Ronnie, died from suicide, the result of addiction and depression on Good Friday, April 10, 2008. I have written about that here, in an essay called, April is the Cruelest Month.  Every April I try…

Read More

Should Trump Start Drinking?

It dawned on me today, while watching a movie about an alcoholic, that perhaps Donald Trump should start drinking. If he did, perhaps he could get the help it appears he so desperately needs. As most people know, Trump doesn’t drink, and although some photos have surfaced on social media of him with glasses of…

Read More

Just Go To Meetings?

A couple of months ago I experienced my first heckler.  I was doing a reading from my new novel, The Empty Room, at a library in Toronto.  The Empty Room is a speculative look at what a day in my life might look like, had I not quit drinking 18+ years ago.  I figured there’d be a…

Read More

The Agenda with Steve Paikin

I’m delighted to say my televised interview with the WONDERFUL Steve Paikin, on his show “The Agenda” is now available for your viewing pleasure. We did lots of gabbing about THE EMPTY ROOM.  You can see it by clicking here.  Of all the interviews I’ve done over the years, Steve’s might just be my favorite. …

Read More

The Defiant Ones

…a while ago a young man trying to stay sober called me from another city and told me he was calling to “tell on himself,” meaning he needed to tell someone he was thinking of doing something he knew wasn’t in his best interests.

Read More

I would have drunk pond scum

I was in England recently, where there is an ongoing debate about how much folks are drinking.  If you Google “binge drinking” and “UK” a depressingly long list of sites pop up.  The Brits are trying a number of things to curb the epidemic — physicians now ask their patients directly about their drinking habits,…

Read More

Clearing out the mental/spiritual closet

Lent begins today, which is, in Christian tradition, the period leading up to Easter and is intended as a time of reflection, of going within to hear the small still voice, and to take stock of who we are, to face ourselves and not be afraid of our imperfections. On the Explore Faith website I…

Read More

Where God Has Me

It’s been a difficult week.  The Best Beloved and I just got back Montreal where we’d gone for my father-in-law’s funeral.  Morris passed away on January 12th (which is, oddly, also the day on which my adoptive father passed away, back in 1993). My father-in-law, Morris, was a great guy. He owned a department store…

Read More

Chaos vs Stillness – Writers' Habits

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said “One must have chaos in oneself in order to give birth to a dancing star.” Well, that‘s a poetic and hopeful concept for those of us who come from chaotic backgrounds. However, I’m not convinced that the life of such a tumult-born star can be sustained and nurtured in the…

Read More