Yesterday was one of solemn remembrance of the attack on our country destroying the World Trade Center. The images of the tragedy are with everyone to this day. It changed us in so many ways. Sally and I were living in New York in our small apartment on Sixty-Ninth Street on the upper west side. The aftermath changed us all and we still feel the tensions today. The suspicion and antipathy for the Muslim nation and its people remains among many Americans.

I had just recently finished my latest degrees at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. I was newly ordained as an American Baptist Minister and I received a Masters in Clinical Social Work. So I was now a Christian minister and a mental health professional (thank you ADHD). And through it all, with these graduate school years, I was performing nightly at the Comic Strip Comedy Club and other clubs virtually every night.

My close colleagues knew about my ongoing education but I rarely shared that part of my life. I was especially discreet about my Christian ministry in the nightclub environment and kept that separated for my weekend church involvement. I lived parallel lives through all those years, including my time on television at Nick-at-Nite, and NBC in Los Angeles.

Well, these days I am fully disclosing about my focus on both Christian ministry and mental health. I turn seventy-seven this week and am at peace with where I am. The surprise and joy for me is that now I am also free to be active communicating my teaching and experience in other ways. I started a Substack stream and will be transparent and disclosing by sharing my experiences and learning there. It is both engaging and a gratifying outlet at this time in my life. I will share a lot of my experiences in comedy, mental health, television, media and Christian ministry. I look forward to building a following there. As my agent Linda says to me, “Be patient and let it come to me!”