Apparently, I'm told, September is Classical Music Month. Although media attention lately has been all about country music with the recent passing of Dolly Parton, and although her name is certainly not associated with classical music, I'd like to focus a bit today on the classical spectrum and how I came to appreciate it. By the way, Parton got her first step toward stardom, her big break, in my home town, Knoxville, Tennessee. Cas Walker, a grocer who had stores in Tennessee, Virginia, and...

September 11, 25 years ago, began as a normal day. Kids went to school, eager for the new year ahead. Parents and others went to their jobs. Some people were flying on planes of a variety of airlines on trips to various destinations for various reasons. But 19 of those fliers had one-way tickets, and they all had a nefarious reason for their flights. They were prearranged into four teams, and they worked in a coordinated way to hijack four commercial airliners, two each belonging to American...

I recently learned that this Sunday, September 6, has been designated as National Read-a-Book Day. I don't have to be reminded to read books, but I'm so busy reading generally in my researching and writing that I sometimes find it hard to read an entire book. This year has been especially difficult with multiple projects and responsibilities overflowing my calendar, and I've fallen far behind my normal reading pace, by which I would regularly get 25 or 30 books read during the year. This...