By Michael Kaufman
There were long lines when the first New York City Off-Track Betting site opened for business in 1971 inside Grand Central Station. No one will be on line today.

By Bob Gaydos
Cindy McCain, Cher, the pope. My brain has been collecting random thoughts while I thought about influential thinkers. I empty it out and move on.

GRANDIOSE -The grandest of all the canyons of the world is the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. A powerful and inspiring landscape, that overwhelms our senses through its immense size; 277 river miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep. Recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course and carved the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to the point we see it at today.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
Nothing says Christmas quite like a wild evergreen tree decked out with sparkling lights and loaded with gift-wrapped boxes. Before you head out into the woods with your axe, consider a greener alternative.

By Jeffrey Page
Telling the House of Representatives to go chase itself.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
Thanksgiving week, the major news in our country is shopping, and if retail sales will top last year. Judging from our media, you would think that Americans made the holidays specifically for shopping. We spend an average of $856 per person on the holidays, according to the American Research Group.

Peggy’s Cove is a small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margaret’s Bay in Nova Scotia. Known as an idyllic fishing village, Peggy’s Cove is one of Canada’s most popular attractions and an artist’s paradise.

By Jeffrey Page
I reached Allen Ginsberg at his apartment on the Lower East Side. I expected a comment. Instead I got a poem.

By Carrie Jacobson
How life happens while we are engaged in living!

DEVILS TOWER – Devils Tower is a sacred area for Native Americans. According to the National Park Service, over twenty tribes have potential cultural affiliation with Devils Tower National Monument. The Devil’s Tower is a 1,267-foot tall volcanic rock formation in the Black Hills region of Wyoming. The formation was first discovered by explorers in 1875 during a geological survey of the area. The surveyors took one of its many Indian names, “‘Bad God’s Tower” and interpreted it as “The Devil’s Tower.”