Keeping watch

Time was that I could rattle off the election regulations for Georgia – the Republic of Georgia, that is. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, I was in Tbilisi for a month at a time, working with local journalists to help them cover elections. Part of training them about their role in a new democracy was to train … read more Keeping watch

The lives we lived

The stock market has crashed and ruined families are living in shanty towns, but you’d never know it from the home movies of William Kaliska. Watch them dance the Charleston,  go to a polo match, ride in a Goodyear “airship,” laugh at a garden party, throw ticker tape at a parade for champion golfer Bobby Jones. These aren’t … read more The lives we lived

Self-doubt

There’s nothing like doing market research on a book to make you feel that you’re not so special. Hundreds of thousands of books are published every year in America. The top nonfiction sellers mostly are written by people who are already famous – actresses, comedians, CEOs and mainstream media investigative reporters. I’m not famous, not … read more Self-doubt

Day 72: Wearing what I choose

My choices in clothes just never seem to work out. On the last day of kindergarten, Mom allowed me to pick what I would wear. I chose an emerald-green corduroy jumper with little evergreen trees all over it. It was June, too hot to wear corduroy anything. But I insisted on being granted this privilege of choice. As I … read more Day 72: Wearing what I choose