Growing Bolder Community

While searching for the perfect birthday gift for the one I love, I came across this advertisement (I kid you not): “Give the perfect gift to the smoker you love – the Prado Electronic Cigarette. No more tar, ash or smoke . . . just nicotine. Looks, feels and tastes like a real cigarette.” It was perfect: I could give the one I love just nicotine – no bad stuff like tar, ash, or smoke –...

Smoking is the one choice you can make that can save your life but for most of the 32 years I smoked, I liked to smoke and enjoyed it. When I started out smoking I was young. I wasn’t thinking about saving my life. I saw all the commercials, read the package but continued to smoke. If I was stressed I’d light up a cigarette and felt a sense of relief. It was a habit. A cup of coffee came with...

If you lived as a teenager in the late 1940s or during the 1950s, this musing will probably be a walk down memory lane. If you are young, this might help explain why those of us who were teenagers then have strong feelings about what life was like then versus what life is like now for those younger. One way to compare is to recall a few songs that we heard either on the radio (AM) or heard...