by Mitch Albom | Jan 6, 2019 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
I made a New Year’s resolution to stay away from angry politics. It took less than a week to blow it. The dynamite to my best-laid plans came off the lips of newly minted Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who, shortly after being sworn in last week — before she took a...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 23, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
Three weeks. That’s how long he had gone without eating. His water intake had been minimal, small sips, whatever he could keep down, and he couldn’t keep much down. Something was wrong with Gaelson, a 7-year-old orphan — at least we think he’s 7, as there...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 16, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
The holidays had me down. The rushing. The commercialism. The endless negative news cycle set against our supposed Christmas spirit. I found myself at a shopping mall. Exhausted, I got in line for a Starbucks. At least I thought it was Starbucks — until I...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 10, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
It was a slight catch in the throat. A momentary choke-up. George W. Bush was speaking at an ornate podium, two microphones pointed his way. Before him was a well-dressed crowd, gathered in a famous cathedral. He’d experienced such moments countless times as president...
by Mitch Albom | Dec 2, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
When I heard the news that George H.W. Bush had died, I immediately flashed back on a trip to Houston last year. I had come to make a speech. Upon arrival, I was given a hotel suite for a couple hours. It was a warm day, a cloudless sky, and the room was spacious and...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 19, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
They’re going for two? They’re going for two. A minute and 7 seconds left, down 20-19 after scoring a touchdown, yet the Carolina Panthers, staring at the Lions defense, were going for two. In football that usually means one of two things: You’re depleted and have one...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 18, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
This Thanksgiving, I’m setting an extra table. It’s not for the kids. We have one of those, with little plates of cut-up turkey, and little legs dangling from the chairs, and little heads that fall asleep on little forearms as the night wears on. It’s not for the...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 11, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
There’s an old joke about two people in a restaurant. One says, “The food here is terrible.” The other says, “Yeah, and such small portions!” I thought about that when Michigan legalized recreational marijuana last week. The goal, at least partly, was to redirect the...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 5, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
When you’re facing a good quarterback, the one thing you can’t do is make it easy for him. Russell Wilson is good. And the Detroit Lions made it easy. That was the story Sunday afternoon in a 28-14 lossthat was more one-sided than the score suggests. Yes, the Lions...
by Mitch Albom | Nov 4, 2018 | Detroit Free Press, Comment
This weekend, American Jews gathered in synagogues for Sabbath services, more fearful than they’d been the weekend before. They wondered if some murderous madman might now enter their sanctuaries. For them, it was hard to imagine an issue more critical. But elsewhere...