Ray Bradbury's connections to fantasy, space, cinema, to the macabre and the melancholy, were all born of his years spent running, jumping, galloping through the woods, across the fields, and down the brick-paved streets of Waukegan.

Andrew Carnegie loved libraries; he knew their importance to an educated society and as anchors to our communities. And so, just as some loyal baseball fans travel to attend games at all 30 major league stadiums, over the last decade or so, I have slowly, casually, visited Carnegie libraries whenever I am on the road.

Ray Bradbury has a vacation house in Palm Springs, California, in the desert at the base of the Santa Rosa mountains. It's a Rat Pack-era affair, with a chrome-and-turquoise kitchen and a small swimming pool in back.

Bradbury would have said his plots are myths and metaphors that tell stories about the human condition. That's what sets him apart from other science-fiction writers: He doesn't write about technology, but about the human heart and psyche.

Young men in my day really stepped up... These were champions for freedom, equality, and justice for all human beings, and they were educated individuals that used their education and knowledge to represent their case.

In middle school, I had a teacher who regularly reminded students of the Monday night Young Life meetings he sponsored; on Tuesdays, he'd spend the first few minutes of class palling around with the chosen ones about all the fun and fellowship they'd experienced together.

If the government can afford luxury travel for its cabinet officials, then surely we can find the resources to invest in quality education, jobs skills training, and properly fund the State Department and foreign aid programs.

From my point of view, there is a lot of joy in stage work.