When just out of college I worked for one year at a family owned department store in Milwaukee called “Chapmans”.  I needed a job to escape my father’s ridiculous dream that I’d join him in the family business. My mother one evening looked at me with pleading eyes and...

fop.

fop was never meant to be a compliment. it was used to describe some men who fretted about their clothes and appearance and the cumulative impression it all might make when they entered a room. it actually sounds a lot like hollywood today. i knew a fantastic fop h...

ugly.

i think along with “suitability”--ugly is one of the worst words in the english language. ugly. the word says it all. lives are spent in pursuit of its opposite or in retreat from its presence. ugly. there are few truly ugly things. disease--yes. cruelty--double y...

mother.

i don’t know if anyone would choose to be a mother if they really knew what they were in for. it’s not unlike choosing to be a human canon ball because you like to travel. initially it sounds great--until you’re sent hurtling through the air into an unknown and...

original.

one of the greatest words ever. and one that can today be applied so sparingly. originals are still highly regarded and to many ardently collected and protected. whether a painting or a person an original always means just one. only one. another one would be a...