Free Flow

The smartest thing I did for Thanksgiving was not takie a week off, do my food shopping early, or buy sweet potatoes, not yams, for my sweet potato pie. (Yes, there is a difference.)

It was signing up for a two-hour spinning class.

I did this because overeating on Thanksgiving makes me feel like a slug. You know how it is: after the big feast comes the big sleep, and then the big nosh -- for the rest of the night. The weird thing is, because I usually cook, I'm not all that hungry but I eat anyway. A lot.

At least today, I will have a jump-start my metabolism with spinning. I can't even imagine what a two-hour class is like. I bet my butt can't either.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Philly native son Bill Cosby was in town the other day. I explain in today's column how I've gone from Cosby critic to Cosby fan.

Because regardless of your opinion of him, his heart is undoutedly in the right place.

There's something tragic going on. And I'm not talking about abuse of dogs.

This case of the Jena 6 has gotten scant attention in the mainstream media. But the case, which harkens back to Jim Crow justice of a half century ago, has set the blogosphere on fire.

You can be outraged all you want about the dirty deeds allegedly done by here to make your voice heard.

We're getting to the point where we care more about canines than humans. Society is truly going to the dogs.

Remember as a kid how important the local pool was in the summertime? Spend all day in the water and come out looking like a withered up prune -- exhausted and hungry, but happy.

I remember when I almost drowned my sister. Made the big mistake of trying to be Mark Spitz in the deep end and started to panic, almost taking Denise down with me. Thank God we lived to tell the tale.

In this scorching, smothering weather, when everybody's doing whatever they can to cool off, it's a good thing Philly offers 81 public swimming holes. Tuesday''s column tells the story of one such pool on the comeback, and it's bringing the neighborhood with it.

What's your favorite pool story?