By GREG MARKLEY I remember reading Alice Walker’s “Possessing the Secret of Joy” (about female genital mutilation) in 1994, riding a city train in the former East Berlin. I also recall eating a hot dog at Nathan’s Famous in Times Square in 1991 when finishing John...

By GREG MARKLEY American humorist Mark Twain said, “There are three kinds of lies: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Many people believe he was equating statistics with the other two — lies and damn lies. Others contend Twain meant statistics were not always as...

By GREG MARKLEY Colin Powell, son of Jamaican immigrants in Harlem, rose to the zeniths of American authority—military, diplomatic and moral. Admiration for him after his death Oct. 18 echoed his popularity in life. Sorrow on his death at age 84 crossed the political...

By GREG MARKLEY A warning I heard at home from my parents was, “Don’t volunteer for anything.” Like that would stop me! I was in college studying political science in the late 1970s. I wanted to volunteer to serve on a committee of relatives of people seeking to...