Sovereignty, self, and suicide
Sir Edward Downes, 85, one of Britain’s most distinguished orchestra conductors, and his wife, Joan, 74, who was ill and dying, assumed sovereignty over their own mortal beings as their ultimate right when they chose recently to end their lives together via assisted suicide. But they had to leave their UK homeland, where such suicide […]
Every girl’s crazy for a Sharp-Shinned Hawk
This morning, I fed my backyard birds, as I usually do. The cardinals, bluejays, a couple of tufted titmice, some house wrens (at least that’s what I think they are). Came back inside — and went back to work. A while later, must have been about 645, I heard a ruckus and ran to the […]
Sarasota sky shots
The view from MC’s Walden.
MC Coolidge snags second place in Florida Press Awards
A while back I reported that I’d won a Florida Press Award for a humor column (Ben & Jerry Take a Hike) I’d written back in my Pelican Press/Reality Chick days. Well, I just found out what place I took (there are four places — 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention. I have to give […]
Boomer and the butterfly
And all men kill the thing they love . . . — Oscar Wilde, the ballad of reading gaol Tonight, the story of Boomerang and the Butterfly. I was walking Boomer, as I always do. Taking him out for his evening air, his nightly stretching of the legs, sniffing of the air, the remembrance of […]
Blacklisting blackberry-heads and canceling cell phone companions
The next time a client or an editor or a so-called friend, or god forbid a man who has asked me out, or anyone who is sitting at a table or barside with me for whatever reason even THINKS about answering a cell phone (at the table) or even MAKES A MOVE toward a frickin’ […]
Cash cows … free milk … and where’s the beef? The written word woes of Sarasota media.
Sarasota’s print pubs are no longer the cash cows they were in the halcyon boom days … and everybody from writers to readers are paying the price … That’s my story — my new story in Creative Loafing newspaper — out on newstands next week (July 15), but already live and rantin’ on the paper’s […]
Dogs and their peeps … in MC’s ‘hood
I have a love/hate relationship with most of my neighbors. Nearly all of them have dogs. I love dogs. It’s their owners I sometimes hate.
Pugnacious pitbull no more … Palin plays the petulant pooch
Sarah Palin is a big ole crybaby. Her whining press conference (poor, poor pitiful me with all my legal woes and people being mean!) and her complete abandonment of her responsibilities as governor … . Nonsensical? Check. Boorish? Check. Utterly narcissistic? Double check.
Sarasotans show their love of American soil on Independence Day
Siesta Beach 7:30 a.m., the day after. Makes you proud to be an American, especially an American living in Sarasota, Florida.