Craig Ruvere

15Sep 2019 by CJ

Action figure teaches a lesson to kids – and adults – about materialism

Youth

Growing up, I was obsessed with Transformers and GoBots, which were cartoons featuring transforming robots with accompanying action figures available with the same functionality. Each action figure retailed for around $2 back in the early 1980s (about $6.23 today). But then I discovered Voltron – a cartoon in which five robotic lions transformed into one giant robot to help save the planet. For a little kid, it was pretty exciting stuff! When I learned that Voltron had been made into an action figure (compliments of the Sears Christmas catalog known as the “Wish Book”) I couldn’t wait to add it to the top of my Christmas list that season. The problem? The Voltron action figure was not cheap for the early 1980s - retailing for somewhere around $150. To put…

10Sep 2019 by CJ

Music fades away in a relationship between soul mates

Life & Living, Love & Relationships

I wrote the lyrics to The Music Fades Away on September 14, 2001 – three days after the 9/11 attacks. Having lived in the New York Metro Area at the time – having seen the buildings under siege first hand – was an insane reality for me. To be that close to one of the worst terrorist attacks on our country was truly incomprehensible. When all was said and done, thousands of lives had been lost. Thousands of husbands and wives would not be coming home to their loved ones – a thought which hit me hard having just been married myself in May of that year. As a writer, it’s always interesting for me to go back through dozens of journals, spiral-bound notebooks and even countless pieces of scrap…

09Sep 2019 by CJ

A bone marrow donor can share their blessings with others

Generosity & Kindness

Today, I received two cotton swabs in the mail. No, it’s not a reminder to clean my ears, but part of my Be The Match kit, which will add me to the thousands of other people who are already on the bone marrow donor registry. From their website: “For the thousands of people diagnosed every year with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, a cure exists. Over the past 30 years Be The Match®, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), has managed the largest and most diverse marrow registry in the world. We work every day to save lives through transplant.” You might be asking why I decided to become a bone marrow donor at 44 years old. It’s simple really. My life is insanely blessed. Even with…

18Aug 2019 by CJ

Salaries should be contingent upon your contributions to society

Life & Living

Salaries are always a point of contention in our national economy, most likely because there’s such a disparity among them. Here’s just one example. According to a recent release by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) entitled Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers, the median weekly earnings of the nation's 117.6 million full-time wage and salary workers was $908 in the second quarter of 2019, which translates to roughly $47,216 a year. In contrast, according to a recent posting on etonline.com, salaries for the cast of the BH90210 revival are $70,000 an episode, while the cast of the rebooted Will & Grace are earning $250,000 an episode. Let’s say an hour-long drama takes about two weeks on average to film, and the popular, half-hour comedy format about…

03Aug 2019 by CJ

Mowing the grass – 3 really good reasons to keep on doing it

Information & Education, Life & Living, Youth

I’ve been mowing the grass since I was about twelve-years-old, when my father finally deemed me tall enough to push our gas-powered lawn mower on my own. Soon, every Saturday and throughout my summer vacation, keeping our lawn perfectly manicured was now my job. While this might sound a bit like child labor to you, in truth it provided me with a sense of responsibility and even helped me build the strong worth ethic I still have today. Fast forward a few years and not only was I mowing my parents’ grass, but my grandparents on occasion as well. Though admittedly I never really minded mowing their lawn for my grandmother would always dote on me and feed me something wonderful afterwards. But I digress. I’m now 44 years old…