During the twentieth century -- before "Made in China", America produced remarkable things. Good 'ole American stuff. From blankets to cameras, paper hats to vintage jewelry, even the most common things America made were footprints...

Even with its bulletproof glass, handsomely clad guards, vibrant colors, master paintings, and lavish food and drink, my visit to the White House Monday left me dissatisfied. The Obama Administration assembled a group of two hundred or more of America's well-heeled leaders for equality, but like little doggies most were...

Michael Jackson's death will be a JFK-Elvis-Diana memory for decades. "I remember where I was, who I was with, and how I found out Michael Jackson died," will become part of the vernacular into the 22nd century. Modern technology allowed us to be intimate with Michael from afar, and now...

The human experience is mystifying. For land, food, energy, water, or sustenance we fight to outperform the competition at any costs. Darwin's survival of the fittest testifies that prehistoric man bashed and gnawed his way for the last piece of meat in a famine. Life was an ugly, inhumane road...

As a kid I was raised Baptist. At seven, I bought the whole story hook, line and sinker. It sounded great. At death I was promised eternal perfectness -- a world awash with streets paved...

Gay. The word stirs up a mental picture for each one of us. Maybe it's the face of a nephew, a son, a grandson, brother, uncle, or husband. Maybe it's a co-worker, neighbor or friend that has opened up to share his story with you. If you're open minded and...

As I get older time is moving faster -- much faster. At James A. Garfield elementary school, class ended at 3:15. Everyday I'd watch as the red minute hand would crawl around the dial click after click, until finally that Seth Thomas set me free. 180 annual school days...

Dogs are great. If everyone loved their pets as much as my household loves our dachshunds Susie and Jack, the world would be much more kind.

Through the years as our dogs have unabashedly...

Next to Normal is a ground-pounding Broadway musical that demands you sit up straight and listen. It's a nonstop look into the stop/start life of a bipolar mother and the hell her unreality wreaks on her husband, daughter and son as she rides the sharp edge between coping and insanity.

Growing up in the nether regions just east of Philadelphia, my summers were punctuated by day trips to...

Living in LA for the majority of my life, I've almost gotten used to the temporary nature of its evolving concrete landscape.

With a foot in old Hollywood, I'm always looking at the corners, streets,...

Growing up gay is tough. Isolation, bullying and threats will tear a child's soul to pieces. Surviving elementary school is just the beginning. American society continues to punish homosexuals through legislation for simply being born different. Even Barack Obama has yet to...

Here is National NAACP Chairman Julian Bond's powerful speech from the Human Rights Campaign's Los Angeles Dinner on Saturday, March 14.

Here are a few choice statements from his speech:

"When someone...

Professionally, Michael Jackson has achieved more than most of us can even dream. His music has lifted each one of us out of more than a funk or two, while his videos and...

Just a few days ago I bought a suit Sean Penn wore during his Academy Award winning performance in MILK. For the highest bid to two charities (Variety, The Children's Charity of Southern...

Michael Jackson recently moved into my neighborhood. I'm glad. I feel lucky that I live in such a storied community. I've admired Jackson's remarkable body of work for years. I've always thought maybe...

The article that follows is a rerun of a piece I wrote in HuffPo over a year ago. The Academy is still unwavering in its choice not to reissue Howard University McDaniel's statuette. At this...

American Primitive is the "why" that drove early activists like Harvey Milk and the Stonewall demonstrators to demand equality. It's a film about the struggle to redefine a peaceful, safe home against hatred, misunderstanding,...

Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet (Mrs. Sam Mendes), takes us back to the post-war tree-lined Utopia Americans still dream for today. The sacred tableau of loving newlyweds, a promising career, and the life of the stay-at-home mom are painted neatly into this...

2008 has stressed America's morale in unimaginable ways. Growing jobless numbers, astronomical fuel costs, a senseless war, and the worst economy in decades have challenged the family budget as employees have been forced to make more and more concessions just to keep bread on the table. An American worker who...