Miller Time

UNITED STATES—A journalist posed an intriguing question to me. Knowing what you know today, what would you have chosen to do differently in your writing methods? Top of the list would be to develop independent judgment as soon as possible. This quality of judgment plays as vital role in health and nutrition as in becoming the next Ernest Hemingway. Independent...

UNITED STATES—Pizza in my book is about as appetizing as measles; it’s just a hunk of bread. And consuming bread deprives us of an effective way to maintain and improve shape, which is to prefer veggies and fruits over bready, starchy foods. Generally speaking, pizza is on my no-fly list. Now a funny thing happened in my house. My daughter...

UNITED STATES—Persistence is like the weather. Persistence is something we talk an awful lot about and do precious little about. I was reminded of it when reading a great quote from Jim Watkins, “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” That’s real purty, but how does it translate into action? Persistence cannot...

UNITED STATES—I reviewed my diary from 1989-90 and found an entry that divulged much more about the weather and a prize fight watched on television than what I tersely referred to “an interesting proposal.” The proposal was a plane ticket to Amsterdam and a job packaging opiates to be sent back to the U.S. At the time I noted,...

UNITED STATES—Tossing and turning the other sleepless night in Hollywood, I made a shocking discovery. Without ever having suspected it, there lurked within me a regret, a full-fledged, ripe, bruisingly painful, honest-to-God regret. Before this night I had always prided myself a member of that wise tribe that exclaims, "Regrets? I have no regrets. None at all." The tossing and...

UNITED STATES—The obituary for the celebrated Look-Life shutterbug, Phil Stern, whose lens caught scenes of war and froze iconic images of Marilyn and James Dean for all time, struck a dissonant chord when the scribe just had to chip in “Stern, a longtime smoker, had emphysema.” You know, maybe he died because he was older than the hills (he was...