“These are the times that try men’s souls”, wrote Thomas Paine in “The American Crisis”, December 19, 1776. That same week, General George Washington and his depleted band of ill-clothed, ill-fed, demoralized and freezing cold troops were encamped on the banks of the Delaware River just a few miles from where I write this. In such bleak circumstances, eleven thousand of his dispirited troops had quit and gone home to be fed and warmed by their families. The meager remainde

Sixty-two years ago today, I said “I do” and Patti said “I do.” And with that, we were married. But three months earlier, on November 11, 1959, I said something different, and so did she. We were just out of college, Patti a teacher of the deaf and I an aspiring advertising executive. The apartment she shared with several other young teachers was a magnet for us young guys looking for a place to hang out and snag a date now and again. One late afternoon, Patti and I found

I cheated once. I think it was the only time I deliberately, knowingly did something to “win”. Fresno High School. Junior year. Chemistry. Totally bewildered by the subject. Bottom of my class. Final exam at hand. Flunk the final, flunk the course. Gotta gotta gotta get a passing grade. Our teacher typically left the classroom for most of each hour, to smoke in the janitor’s closet down the hall. I knew cheating would be a cinch. As it happened, my seat was flanked