Author: Steve Ainslie

On a podcast recently, Michael Moynihan was talking about people who live in the Nordic Countries and Western Europe (he has lived in both regions for several years). He said that Americans who have never visited Sweden, France, England etc. picture these places as cosmopolitan oases filled with fine dining, world renowned artwork, artists, musicians,…

I used to love going out to eat. When I was a kid and we were poor, eating out was a rare event. A few times a year, we’d go to the 5 Points Diner, Leiby’s restaurant out in the country or to a roadside burger shack. My favorite foods were hamburgers, meatball hoagies and…

On several podcasts recently, I heard from “working” screenwriters, producers and actors who are currently on strike. Instead of repeating the talking points, demands and accusations that have been covered incessantly, these podcasts discussed how the workers got into the industry, what it has been like working there pre-strike, the financial realities and the lives…

When I visited downtown to meet a friend for lunch on Sunday a few weeks ago, I was surprised at how dead it was. Although the pandemic, the recovery and the work-from-home trend have all impacted cities, in Raleigh, our downtown dining/entertainment/residential district has reportedly been making a solid comeback. There are many luxury apartments…

My region’s local independent newspaper, the IndyWeek, announced in May 2023 that it was being managed by a new partner, the Assembly, with the goal of it eventually being acquired by the Assembly. Given the bleak state of newspapers and their continuous contraction across the US, I did not welcome this announcement. I grew up…

Thou shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. The 10 Commandments were drilled into my head as a child being raised Catholic. One thing I learned back then from family,…

I have been unable to news coverage of the wildfires in Maui and the devastation they have caused. Disasters like this are “made for news” events. Stories of tragedy, rescues, public safety failures, finger pointing and opinions will dominate the news for at least a few days – until the next new tragedy takes over…

I had a problem with my blog a few days ago. While troubleshooting, I temporarily disabled some plug-ins until I was able to isolate and resolve the issues. When I re-enabled them, I did not realize that I needed to reconfigure my “captcha” plug-in used to verify users on my contact page. I realized this…

There’s a woman who I see at the pool several times each week who is absolutely stunning. I’m not going to describe her other than to say she once graced me with a big smile when we shared a lane that made my heart skip a beat. I’m not ashamed to say that I look…

Another neighbor moved away without saying goodbye. Usually I am not surprised when someone I see regularly is leaving because I’ll see a “For Sale” sign on their property at least a few weeks before they are gone. This time was different. This neighbor was a 30-something married couple who lived a block away. During…