The Luna Park Gazette

Most mornings I like to listen to a recording of a Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness called “ho'oponopono” that focuses on clearing the spirit of anger and other toxic emotions. The 10-minute session that I listen to merely repeats four simple phrases: “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. And I thank you.” It may not sound like much, but this mantra can have great cleansing power. The apology can be directed at anyone or anything--the universe, deceased loved ones, even ourselves, because God knows so much of our pain is self-inflicted. I had an opportunity to apply that practice to a real world situation last week. I got into an email beef with a co-worker on Thursday that turned quite ugly in a matter of minutes. I was having a bad day, to put it mildly, but that doesn’t excuse my obnoxious behavior. It started off with some snippy remarks and got more atrocious with each reply. That’s one of the reasons I hate email—that and the Nigerian ban...

I made some smart investments in the last few weeks and I must say they’ve really paid off. This had nothing to do with the stock market. I was working in the area of human capital and all I did was send a simple message: Thank you. That’s it. I just expressed gratitude to people who had helped me out and in return I was rewarded with a chronic attack of the warm and fuzzies. My first acknowledgement went to Ronit Keith, general manager of the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Toronto where I stayed earlier this month. I simply told her the truth, which was that I was impressed by the courtesy and professionalism of her staff. I know that’s their job—it is the hospitality industry, after all—but I felt that these people were particularly hospitable. I’ve been in too many situations where the “help” is anything but helpful. And I find I’m quick to complain but not nearly as fast to compliment. I wanted to change that, so I took five minutes to shoot Ms. Keith an email and got ...

Brace yourself for a shock. There were two mass shootings in America this week. Astounding, isn’t it? Mass shootings in the USA. I still can't believe it. We're such a peace-loving people. Or is that "piece-loving"? First, we had a deranged man shoot 12 people to death in the Washington Navy Yard. Then 13 people were shot in Chicago after a gunman with a military-grade assault rifle opened fire on a pickup basketball game. One of the victims in the Chicago case included a three-year-old boy, proving that you’re never too young to take a bullet. How is this possible? I mean, it’s not like we ever had anything like this ever happened before in this country. We never had a psychopath shoot his way into a school and mow down innocent grade-schoolers and their teachers. We never had a nutbag walk into a dark theater and start shooting into the crowd. And we never, ever have anyone shoot up an army base…or a shopping mall…or a church…or a Sikh temple..or a co...

The MTA is taking its act above ground. During my many years of commuting, I have often seen talented musicians and some memorable characters when I ride the subways. However, I do most of my traveling on the express bus now, where I don’t get any such entertainment or aggravation. That changed on Saturday, though, as my sister and I were Broadway bound to see a play and were treated to an unexpected warm-up act. We met on the X27 bus at around noon to see a new production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie . The show stars Cherry Jones, a fine actress whom we’ve seen several times, and Zachery Quinto, the new Mr. Spock in the Star Trek reboot. When the bus pulled into a stop on 69th Street, a rather haggard young man lurched aboard and climbed over some poor woman seated in front of us so he could sit by the window. We were getting a distinct odor of alcohol as we turned onto Third Avenue and the man was mumbling incoherently to the unfortunate lady next to him...

I stood outside the Brooks Brothers store on Liberty Plaza this morning and said a silent prayer. I’ve been doing this little ceremony every year on September 11 since the planes crashed into the World Trade Center 12 years ago. There’s some scaffolding outside the store obscuring the view of the Freedom Towers site, but I have no trouble recalling that beautiful late summer day in 2001 when I stood in the same spot as a jet slammed into the opposite side of the South Tower and sent a massive sheet of orange flame billowing across the street. I can still hear that plane streak through the air in the seconds before impact and the screams of the people around me as we saw the world we thought we knew come to a horrifying end. We all ran, ran like rats, terrified that we were going to be killed any second. People cried and screamed up to the heavens for mercy. Nobody knew what the hell was going on, why we were being attacked. I remember taking refuge in a senior’s home near the ...

And to think I almost went to Vegas. I just got back from a week in Toronto and I have to say that I had a fantastic time. The trip was a last minute decision, as I considered visiting my aunt in the Berkshires, flying out to Sin City or staying the hell home. I cut Las Vegas from the list when I realized that I have no great interest in gambling or seeing any of the live shows. I’d like to see Vegas some day, but you don’t have to spend an entire week in the circus to have a good time. I finally picked Toronto, a town that I’ve been interested in seeing for years. The name “Toronto” supposedly means “Place of Meetings” and that just what it was for me. While I saw several of the city’s major sites, undoubtedly the biggest moment of my trip was meeting the fabulous Jenni of Calamity Jen in the real world after something like seven years of communicating through our respective blogs and Facebook. I’ve “watched” Jenni as she got married and gave birth to her beautiful son, K...