Douglas Whaley

. All my adult life I've engaged in a rather vigorous workout involving weights and cardio exercises, and was even something of a bodybuilder through my 50s.   Gay men, unlike straight men, have to keep in shape for reasons I've explained elsewhere (see "Men, Women, and Pornography" in Related Posts, below).   But early in 2011, due to various medical problems also explained elsewhere (and from which I've made a complete recovery), I dropped over 40 pounds and came very close to dying twice.   The worst of it was the spring of 2011, when I was losing the weight rapidly, playing in "Hamlet" (as the evil King Claudius—I missed three performances when my kidneys failed), lying to myself that I was fine, but ignoring the obvious fact that I was not. Gertrude (Britt Kline) and Claudius worry about Hamlet (Ben Gorman) The problem was that I had no appetite (due to the medication I was taking), and everything I put in my mouth tasted like a lump of p...

. The C olumbus Dispatch has recently reported that Ohio State's new football coach, Urban Meyer                 will offer optional Bible studies and chapel services for the players, Meyer said. His faith is an important part of all parts of his life, including his coaching career.   Meyer said the optional services he’ll offer players at Ohio State will be nondenominational Christian. But he said he would tell the young men that if they want to worship a different way, he’ll “certainly cater to that as well.” Hmm.   The whole concept of a state university official conducting religious classes for his students in a way that is certain to affect their performance as university athletes bothers me a great deal.   Skipping over the arguable violation of the separation of church and state, there are other problems beside the purely constitutional one.   I'm a Professor of Law at The Oh...

  . After nearly two years of cat ownership, I've been well and truly trained by my two cats: Barney (stupid and loveable) and Mama (taking over the world).   Many things about these two felines amaze me, and this post is about why. First of all, both cats sleep an incredible amount of the time!   Barney is the champion here, though Mama is no slouch herself.   After many long naps all day, at 11 p.m., Barney wearily climbs onto what I think of as my bed in the Master Bedroom and he thinks of as Barney's bed (or, at best, the "mammal bed," given that he must share it with both Mama and me), and then he's down and out until about 9 a.m.   When I first acquired Mama (before Barney), I was initially worried that she was   sick, since she seemed to sleep too much (I grew up with dogs).   I later learned the interesting fact that cats sleep more than any other mammal on the planet .   A cat that lives to be fifteen will have been asleep ten ...