PRO Reflections

"The monsters are due on Maple Street," (1960) was a classic. I recall it every time I read divisive tales about some one or group, or ill-defined boogie man, who has singlehandedly turned out...

Within the pages ahead, you will read about folks living the "original" American Dream, one of mere opportunity. It's a grand tale of strength, determination and stunning beauty; the stuff of legend. Clearly, as we...

You know, like, "I'm a Mac," or "I'm a PC." That's called tribalism. Back in the day, the unity of the tribe, in its purist form, was based on kinship. If you weren't kin, you were...

She was sweet and sovereign, and had the divine ability to cause me to snap into accordance with a single glance. With all her ecclesiastical presence, Sister Timothy bestowed upon me the social power...

I was fortunate enough to be raised on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." It was a great primer for the meaning of the holidays and as a poor Catholic kid who had more siblings...

In previous decades, the Great Depression inalterably shaped its own generation. It haunted my grandparents, and determined how they would work and save the rest of their lives. How will the past two years impact...

In Jeff Thull's classic business book, Mastering the Complex Sale, he stresses the importance of a salesperson first listening, then unraveling a customer's problem to mutually align with the customer for a viable solution. Most...

Yet, Congress has been consumed over the past year with those things at the bottom of Americans' priority list: reducing health care costs (57 percent), providing health insurance to the uninsured (49 percent) and...

In the old-school novella, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915), the main character, Gregor, does just that. It's not so much that he bizarrely transforms from salesman to giant bug in the first paragraph of...

The fact is, President Obama has caused us to care. Gallup recently reported that Americans are paying closer attention to political news than during any non-election year since the company began tracking the issue in...

I found the chirping crickets a curious sound effect after Carvey gushingly asked, "how about that President Obama?" I'm thinking the audience probably just didn't hear the question. I must have missed the Barney Frank...

The hope is that consumers, who account for 70 percent of the economy, will finally begin to spend. And while unemployment, real estate values and dampened credit remain a focus in a number of...

I always knew that I'd like this place. You don't have to look too far, to find a friendly face I feel alive when I'm walkin' on the street. I feel the heart of the city poundin'...

Some were there to catch a glimpse of the unassuming captain, who so deftly belly-landed a disabled US Airways A320 jetliner in the Hudson River in January. Others were there to offer honor to the...

I shake my head in agreement because no one can win against the Irish drinking song argument. It's just one of those life-truths. In fact, I hear Irish drinking songs every time I open a...