Emilio DeGrazia's blog

I think I now have a name for it--for our era, the brave new world we've made for ourselves.  The clue came when I asked a neighbor kid, a college senior, about a blockbuster movie he had just seen. 

"It was great," he said. 

I nagged him to tell me more.  "What made it great?"

"The special effects."

I nagged again.  "Anything else?"

Not even the chosen few really know: Every morning I put my left sock on first. Always my left. All the other basketball nuts who play in the Noon Ball pickup games at the YMCA know I have trouble going to my left. That's never kept me from putting into practice the All-American "practice makes perfect" philosophy.MORE »

Imagine not finding one under the tree. So put yourself in my place when I take it upon myself to lead my wife to the garage. Then try to understand the glee that possesses me as I throw back the sheet. "I bought one for the whole family," I announce. "We are now proud owners of our own Blonk."  MORE »

It's been my fate and fortune to live next to a university campus.  Bar-closing time poses problems, especially when it's warm enough for open windows to air the noise and other fluid substances that drunk undergrads discharge on their way to somebody's bed. My dog Bella has marked the campus turf as her own. Her hungry sniffer is always on high alert for rich rotten smells, and she's something of a celebrity, the Big Dog on Campus who can attract a small crowd with a few wags of her tail. MORE »

I'm ordinary enough to be confused most of the time by words that don't make sense.  Usually I suck it up and let silence do my talking for me, hoping it will picture me as a strong silent type with leadership potential.  But now and then I can't resist the urge toward words, especially since I've wholly surrendered to my addiction for crossword puzzles.  Those puzzles often sticMORE »

Whenever I play Rock-Paper-Scissors I have an urge to change the rules of the game.  If my hand could command Water rather than any of the other three, I’d never lose.  Scissors rust as water easily slices through them, and paper dissolves, and as rocks erode they’re washed away as sand.  I’m like everyone else:  I don’t like to lose.MORE »

by Emilio DeGrazia | September 19, 2009 • The philosopher Albert Camus, sensitive to society’s desire to enjoy a moral lifestyle, made no secret of this essential belief:  "All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football."  Since “football” meant “soccer” to him he understandably skirted the lessons to be learned from American football field generals simuMORE »