In the roaring twenties MGM was starlet boot camp. Young beauties that had passed muster at the front gate and the front office contracted with the studio as little more than artistic chattel. Tall thin, talented ingénues were...

Somewhere over the rainbow Dorothy's lonely lament for lemon drops and elaborate livin' crashed into complication. Fancy dreams succumbed to a yearning for the trouble-free life when Kansas, crullers, and Auntie Em beckoned her back home. If only...

Exasperated by my search for American made products, I looked back in time to find a museum dedicated to California's design gold. Not just pottery, the Museum Of California Design dedicates itself to all things made in the...

The proud eastern Long Island town of Southampton was incorporated by English settlers nearly four hundred years ago. Southampton's chic beaches are its lure, while its light, weather and fresh air are its magic. The...

The American flag.
Her colors are bold, her design optimistic and celebratory -- a powerful symbol of growth, justice, personal challenge, and joy. The Stars and Stripes' home is America, but her hope is universal. She flies...

When we were children, our mothers often warned, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it." Since the California Supreme Court made gay marriage legal, the darkness behind that sentiment is coming to fore for thousands of gay couples across the state.

Complex issues surrounding engagement, trust, love,...

Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl, in a blazing heat, under smoggy stars, Liza Minnelli gave the greatest performance of her life. At sixty-two years of age she defied the cookie-cutter-American Idol-mediocrity that Americans have come to accept as organic talent. Liza Minnelli earned her ovations with her lifetime of...

Arianna Huffington's new book, Right is Wrong, finds the Bush administration wallowing in their fetid pool of imperialism, pomposity, and constitutional disregard while keeping Americans in fear of attack. Her outline of the last seven-plus years resonates with...

America's resources are strained. As the Iraq fiasco escalates, the dollar devalues, and fuel costs soar, America's new tomorrow is begging for a contemporary point-of-view.

For too long Bush has made us a nation afraid of its own shadow. Fear mongering, failed policies, and a sense of foreboding have usurped...

In 2004 as George W. Bush's catastrophic Iraq grew increasingly tragic for America, the Republican Party pointed its crooked crosshairs toward homosexual Americans. Our nation -- beleaguered, undereducated, and fundamentalist bought the rhetoric. In a sweeping campaign, America's government defined its enemy as our own homosexual brother and sisters.

In...

Nothing captures America's optimism, inventiveness, and gusto greater than the American Musical. From Plymouth Rock to Rock Operas, our past is riddled with unforgettable, uplifting song. Even in today's technological, fast-paced environment, the musical is still king of...

The California decision to legalize same-sex marriage is a welcome wind of change across the American flag. For the first time in too long, the court has judged that American constitutional ideals are more important than religious ideology. The Republican California court ruled that every citizen has the freedom to...

Born from the beatnik era and fermented in the fervor of the Vietnam War, hippie culture was anti-establishment, pro-peace, groundbreaking, and a sweeping tie-dyed movement for change.

In San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, dressing hippie-style was the uniform for the protesting counter-culture individualists -- or at least oxymoronically,...

America has fallen hard since 2000, but there is inspiration all around you. In a series of non-commercial blogs, I highlight America's dreamers, collectors, and artists as they share their talent and perspective with me.

Ingenuity, drive, education, and work still fuel the American dream. In post WWII America we...

The omnipresent god that allows millions to suffer -- in Iraq, in Darfur, across Africa and around the globe -- took centerstage in Hollywood last Wednesday, and a joyful noise was sung out to millions of...

Today Congress witnesses its newest member Jackie Speier sworn into service. She's a survivor whose story took the world to the edge of horror as it took her to the edge of death.

When religion reared...

Political candidates struggle to say everything without stepping over the line. They cast a Texas-sized hoop hoping to lasso as many voters as their taciturn words can capture. Politicos practice each phase until they turn it just right...

Rhetoric about America's new impetus towards change is rousing, but we've heard it all before. The nation is scarred with the broken souls of individuals, families, and entire communities who weren't on roll call when change and its inherent optimism were last doled out.

My father is from proud New...

With the 2008 elections nearing, the light at the end of the dark tunnel of the Bush administration is finally showing its faint, warm glow. From Bush's faith-based initiative and his support of teaching "Intelligent Design" in public schools, to "bring 'em on" and "Mission Accomplished," the president has sent...

The end of the winter break ushered in another school semester of frightening harassment for thousands of tormented children across the United States. Among those kids was 15-year-old Lawrence King. The young man who had been bullied year after year had finally self-identified as gay. He hoped with that bold...