Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Nov 22My Ideal Self Expects a Lot of Me. Maybe More Than I Can Deliver.One of the best things about my shrink is that he never asks me, “How does that make you feel?” He knows that I always feel conflicted. Conflicted by the tug-of-war between my retirement self, who wants to kick back and take it easy — in macro doses — and…Psychology3 min readPsychology3 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Nov 10A Poem for My Wife on Her 64th BirthdayJust what I always wanted Just what I needed too Just what I always hoped for Just what I wished would come true Who could have ever dreamed it? Who could have foretold this fate? Who could have seen this coming? Who could anticipate That on this very birthday We…Poem1 min readPoem1 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Nov 6The Bear Effect: Will the Hit Hulu Series Change Our Expectations and Experiences at Upscale Restaurants?Sometimes life imitates art. On occasion, it can extract insights from art that seep into our behavior and experiences. That happened to me just the other night. The art in this case is the ultra-popular and critically lauded FX series “The Bear,” streaming on Hulu. I was a late adopter…The Bear Tv Series8 min readThe Bear Tv Series8 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Sep 30I Just Got Woke. Tupac’s Murder Was No Joke.At the Annual Whitehouse Correspondents’ Association Dinner in 2011, President Barak Obama sought a small measure of revenge against Donald Trump, who was in the audience. Trump had waged a relentless and ultimately successful “birther” campain to force Obama to produce his birth certificate to prove he was born in…Tupac Shakur4 min readTupac Shakur4 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Sep 24Whither Went Jann Wenner’s Wits?Non-members can read this story for free at this link Last year at just about this time, I bought my best friend Phil a Kindle for his birthday and shipped it across country to him in Southern California. A fellow boomer like me, he’d been reluctant to even think about…Rock And Roll6 min readRock And Roll6 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Updated Aug 26Malaga SkyMalaga Sky kisses the sea Becomes one with the air Warmed by the sun Malaga Sky extends beyond thought Enveloping everything Wanting nothing Malaga Sky has only one mood Beyond good or bad Forever content Get an email whenever Martin D. Hirsch publishes. Get an email whenever Martin D. Hirsch publishes. By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don't already…medium.comPoetry1 min readPoetry1 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jul 27Member-onlyAmerican Democracy Jumps the Shark“I couldn’t help but think of you.” That was the subject line of an email from an old friend of mine — a fellow American expat who worked with me both in the U.S., as well as in Switzerland when our pharma company sent us on assignments there in the…Democracy6 min readDemocracy6 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jul 22Member-onlyAn AI Description of Tony Bennett’s VoiceYou be the judge. Who explains it better — the robot or the trained human journalist? — Tony Bennett, who died this week at 96, spanned my parents’ generation and my own. As Time magazine reported, he sang duets with Judy Garland and Lady Gaga. And he had almost half a million followers on Instagram. When I read his obituary in The New York Times, I was…AI4 min readAI4 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jul 18Member-onlyEavesdropping in New York, №3: Trending Designer Graphic T-Shirts at UniqloI like to look. And listen. The combination of sight and sound map the course of my curiosity as I wander the city. The French poet Charles Baudelaire came up with a name for the ever-observant street rambler: he called such a person a “flaneur.” The great Makhail Baryshnikov, answering…Flaneur4 min readFlaneur4 min read
Published inILLUMINATION-Curated·Jun 16Member-only81-Year-Old Graham Nash’s Intimate Show Takes Me On a Musical Tour of My LifeAt 81, Graham Nash is 10 years older than me. In 1962, when he was 21 and starting The Hollies, I was 11 and starting 6th grade. My family had just moved from the little chicken farm in rural central New Jersey where I was born to the teeming Philadelphia…Singer Songwriter7 min readSinger Songwriter7 min read