By Wendy Pierman Mitzel
While most of us are at the office or the grocery store or the basement laundry room rubbing out chocolate milk stains, there’s a place that’s hopping like it’s a Friday night in Times Square: Mohegan Sun Casino.
Deep in the cavernous bowels of the casino, reached only via long passageways from each entrance, there is a daytime “underworld” that’s less Godfather and more Grandparent.
Elderly gamblers ramble by on rentable motorized scooters like battery operated Vespas in Italian roundabouts. They are often followed by the accompanying spouse, who often has an oxygen tank on wheels and most likely a fanny pack and is yelling instructions no one is listening to.
They beeline toward the sensory overload of slots with flashing cartoon women who entice them to play Mermaid Fin and Gypsy Eyes and China Shores and push the hit button over and over so they are rewarded with beeps and trills and scrolling reels that almost never say jackpot. There, the slot players sit, taking advantage of the free drinks and discretely inhaling the lit cigarettes dangling from their non-playing fingers.
Bored greeters wait for high rollers at the exclusive Read more... My Dirty Little Casino Secret
By Wendy Pierman Mitzel
While most of us are at the office or the grocery store or the basement laundry room rubbing out chocolate milk stains, there’s a place that’s hopping like it’s a Friday night in Times Square: Mohegan Sun Casino.
Deep in the cavernous bowels of the casino, reached only via long passageways from each entrance, there is a daytime “underworld” that’s less Godfather and more Grandparent.
Elderly gamblers ramble by on rentable motorized scooters like battery operated Vespas in Italian roundabouts. They are often followed by the accompanying spouse, who often has an oxygen tank on wheels and most likely a fanny pack and is yelling instructions no one is listening to.
They beeline toward the sensory overload of slots with flashing cartoon women who entice them to play Mermaid Fin and Gypsy Eyes and China Shores and push the hit button over and over so they are rewarded with beeps and trills and scrolling reels that almost never say jackpot. There, the slot players sit, taking advantage of the free drinks and discretely inhaling the lit cigarettes dangling from their non-playing fingers.
Bored greeters wait for high rollers at the exclusive Read more... 
By Cami Beiter
You have to see (and maybe smell) it to believe it. A pungent, expired retail facility that’s been transformed into the dog food mecca and soda establishment of Hampden County Massachusetts.
Our aging Black Lab, Tuff, has some newly discovered food allergies and is now on a special diet. Intrigued by the pet store/soda shop combination, I headed out to locate his new kibble prescription.
I walked into Dave’s Soda & Pet City in Agawam not knowing what to expect. I’d heard stories, but nothing prepared me for the real life experience.
Once inside the I grabbed a rusty cart with a shaky and bumpy wheel. A wad of aged gum embedded on one wheel caused an annoying, thump...thump...thump... with each rotation and it followed me around like a persistent mosquito on a summer afternoon.
I looked around, feeling like a fish out of water. I focused on the neon decals on black walls and then scanned the vast aisles of pooch supplies. The rear of the store was a large open area... bringing to mind an 80‘s roller rink or video arcade. Interrupting the Blue Oyster Colt instrumental, the loud speaker called for an employee to empty the overflowing 
By Wendy Pierman Mitzel................
Last Spring I spent a week in Ireland and loved every minute of it! It was cheap and easy (and who doesn't like that?) The people are so friendly, the food is scrumptious, the landscape is stunning (dense forests of pine, to coastal flora, to mountains, to rocky shorelines, to near desert conditions) and the history is poetic and sad and inspiring all at once. So stop wondering if Ireland is as romantically beautiful as it looks in the movies, continue reading here for more inspiration and get thee on a plane already! Cheers! Sláinte (pronounced "slaan-sha")