Ronald Reagan Archives - Chris Carosa

The Compliment That Caught Me Speechless

By Chris Carosa on October 14, 2025

After moderating the panel, I rushed to gather my materials. The large crowd buzzed in the afterglow of satisfaction. A woman came up to me and said, “I hope you’re still on the radio.” The comment stunned me. It seemed to come out of nowhere.

Then I remembered. We had only one microphone. It was on a cord. My vision for the panel was more of a conversation than a series of mini-presentations. Passing a mic between each panelist would stunt the informal back-and-forth I wanted to achieve. What could I do?

When the panel began, I asked each person to speak without a microphone to test if the audience in the back of the room could hear us. They could, so I told everyone we wouldn’t be using the mic. That’s when a lady sitting in the front said, “Will you be able to keep your voice loud? Whenever a presenter decides to go without a mic, they start loud, but their voice invariably gets quieter as the presentation goes on.”

I stopped dead in my tracks, looking at her straight in the eye. Then, channeling my inner Continue Reading “The Compliment That Caught Me Speechless”

Posted in Great Speaking Tips, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged AM radio, AM640, Animal House, APHNYS, Apollo, audience, Gates Chili, Hall of Fame, Houston, John F. Kennedy, lunar landing, Manning & Napier, Moon, New Haven, read the room, Rice University, Ronald Reagan, Speaking, speaking confidence, WYBC, Yale

Eerie Echoes Today of Daniel Shays, the Forgotten Patriot Who Sparked the Constitution

By Chris Carosa on September 16, 2025

Did you know that we have a heroic Revolutionary War veteran buried right here in our own backyard? Well, not precisely our backyard, but close enough to call it that.

His heroism, however, isn’t limited to fighting against the British. He took the ideals espoused by the Founding Fathers to heart. So much so that he felt it was his duty to promote those ideals at great personal sacrifice. In fact, the reason he died in Livingston County is that he was chased out of Massachusetts. He knew his family would be safe here in America’s First Frontier.

Without Daniel Shays, America might not have its Constitution. The story behind his plight so worried George Washington that America’s future first president came out of retirement and agreed to preside over the Constitutional Convention.

What follows is an excerpt from a chapter in my book, 50 Hidden Gems of Greater Western New York (Pandamensional Solutions, 2012), that reveals the true story behind this Revolutionary War veteran. It may have happened more than two centuries ago, but as you read the events, don’t be surprised if it seems this could happen (and maybe has happened) even today…Continue Reading “Eerie Echoes Today of Daniel Shays, the Forgotten Patriot Who Sparked the Constitution”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, Abigail Adams, America, Bunker Hill, Cincinnatus, Col. Effingham's Raid, Colonel Effingham, Conesus, Constitution Day, Constitutional Convention, Continental Script, Daniel Shays, Federalist, First Frontier, Founding Fathers, George Knox, George Washington, James Bowdoin, James Madison, John Hancock, Lafayette, Livingston County, Massachusetts, NY Route 256, Pelham, Pennsylvania Continentals Mutiny, Prescott, Regulators, Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War Veterans, Ronald Reagan, Samuel Adams, Saratoga, Scottsburg, Shays Rebellion, Sparta, Stony Point, Thomas Jefferson, Ticonderoga, U.S. Constitution, Union Cemetery, West Swamp Road, Whisky Rebellion

How Psychic Numbing Weirdly Helps You… Or Doesn’t

By Chris Carosa on February 4, 2025

If you read a lot of spy novels or watch a lot of action-adventure movies, you’re used to scenes involving at least the threat of torture. Now, we know torture might happen in real life. As a dramatic element, however, it has very limited appeal. This is especially true in shows that want a family-friendly rating.

How do writers deal with this? They bring us right up to the edge of the actual torture and maybe a little beyond because Continue Reading “How Psychic Numbing Weirdly Helps You… Or Doesn’t”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged beatnik, behavior, Buffalo Bills, Cold War, coping, Death In Life, emotion, Gates-Chili High School, hipster, Hiroshima, Holocaust, Kirk, peer pressure, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychic numbing, PTSD, rational, Reykjavik, Robert Jay Lifton, Ronald Reagan, Soviet Union, Spock, torture, Vietnam War, wide right, Yale

Story Weaving, Callbacks, And Self-Deprecating Humor

By Chris Carosa on October 15, 2024

Many years ago, a young aspiring columnist asked an established author what it takes to be a writer. “To write, you need to find your pen,” said the wordsmith. “To write well, you need to find your voice.”

“Find your voice?” What does that mean?

I never understood that expression. It seemed like a cop out. It’s what you tell a young buck when you don’t have a real answer. After all, everyone is looking for that magic bullet, that sure-fire secret that makes you a success.

Well, after years of writing, it dawned on me the answer to “How can I be a good writer?” is obvious. You need to find your voice. I can’t tell you what it means, but I can tell you it’s Continue Reading “Story Weaving, Callbacks, And Self-Deprecating Humor”

Posted in Great Speaking Tips, Great Writing Tips, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Abraham Lincoln, callback, Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Founding Fathers, Gettysburg Address, inaugural address, John F. Kennedy, public speaking, Revolutionary War, Ronald Reagan, self-deprecating humor, story weaving

Jack Kemp: All American

By Chris Carosa on September 19, 2023

A lot of people were much closer to Jack Kemp than I, but a lot more people did not know him as well as I did. Only a few remaining Americans can say what I can: “I was there at the beginning.”

Jack Kemp, who passed away in 2009, emerged on the national scene not in the political arena passing historic legislation, but on the gridiron field and into passing history. He was forged in a time when most Americans believed in and followed the Boy Scout Law. He played among those people, he lived among those people, and, eventually, he came to represent those people. I know. I was one of them.

Friends, conservatives, liberals, and countrymen, I write not to rebury Jack Kemp, but to Continue Reading “Jack Kemp: All American”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1964 Topps Football, Allentown, Bethlehem Steel Plant, Billy Joel, Buffalo Bills, Chubb Fellow, E Pluribus Unum, Jack Kemp, New Haven, Ronald Reagan, Shining City on a hill, Woodlawn Elementary, Woodlawn Intermediate, Yale

Why America’s Founding Secretly Influences You

By Chris Carosa on August 30, 2022

You don’t have to be an American to say you’re an American. That was the whole idea of the American Experiment – it was meant for all nations, not just those uppity Tea Partiers who frolicked in Boston Harbor a few centuries back. But this experiment didn’t start with the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence or even the United States Constitution. It began with a collection of oppressed runaways and an accidental metaphor that endures to this day.

After reading a perhaps too rosy account of the Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims Edward Winslow and William Bradford, excitement grew in England to establish more companies to Continue Reading “Why America’s Founding Secretly Influences You”

Posted in Business Tips, Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged A Modell of Christian Charity, American Exceptionalism, American Experiment, American Ideal, American Revolution, Anne Hutchinson, Arbella, Ben Franklin, Boston Harbor, City Upon A Hill, community, Constitutional Convention, core value, creed, Declaration of Independence, Edward Winslow, England, Jesus, John Adams, John F. Kennedy, John Ford, John Winthrop, King Charles I, Lifetime Dream, Lifetime Dream Process, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Massachusetts Bay Company, Matthew 5:14, Mayflower Compact, Nathaniel Hawthorne, personal belief, Plymouth Colony, Puritan, Roger Williams, Ronald Reagan, Scarlett Letter, Sermon on the Mount, Tea Party, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, United States Constitution, unity, William Bradford

‘There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere!’

By Chris Carosa on May 11, 2021

If you’re old enough to remember simpler times, you’ll recall this title as the punch-line to one of President Reagan’s favorite jokes. The gag revealed not only Reagan’s engaging sense of humor, but also a lot about his political philosophy and his outlook on life.

The essence of the story goes something like this. It’s Christmas morning and two young brothers hurriedly amble towards the Christmas tree to discover their gifts. On one side lay piles of wonderful toys for one of the boys. He looked at it and sorrowfully said, “They’ll all be broken in a day or two.” The other boy’s gift, on the other side of the tree, was nothing but a pile of manure. He quickly grabbed a shovel and began to dig, joyfully telling his dour sibling, “There’s must be a pony in here somewhere!”

It’s the age-old tale of the wonders of optimism contrasted with the annoyance of Continue Reading “‘There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere!’”

Posted in Business Tips, Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Advertising, Agate Club, attention, Christmas, J.E. Verree, optimism, psychology, Ronald Reagan, Walter D. Scott, Willam E. Mason

Sorry, Mr. President, It’s Not “Flee” New York, It’s “Free” Western New York

By Chris Carosa on February 12, 2019

If you’re from Greater Western New York, you love it. That makes you part of a long tradition. American patriots felt the same way during the Revolutionary War. In 1779, George Washington dispatched General Sullivan to thwart the British and their Iroquois allies based in Western New York from continuing their lethal terror attacks on the small towns and settlements along the edge of the then New York frontier. When Sullivan’s troops first laid eyes on the beautiful landscape, they immediately knew where they wanted to spend the rest of their lives: Western New York.

Why would you be any different? And yet, living in Western New York too often becomes a burden. Although not as bad as it was decades ago, outsiders continue to disrespect our region. We’ve been the butt of late-night TV jokes. Organizations routinely bypass our bounty, lured by promised riches from others. Even our own state leaders forsake us. We’ve seen this as recently as when the New York-Albany axis decided to use our Continue Reading “Sorry, Mr. President, It’s Not “Flee” New York, It’s “Free” Western New York”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Amazon, Andrew Cuomo, Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump, General Sullivan, George Washington, Greater Western New York, Joseph Griffo, New York, New York-Albany axis, Queens, Ronald Reagan

George and Me

By Chris Carosa on December 4, 2018

Bush turned to me and said, “C’mon, let’s put our arms around each other to show everyone we’re friends.”

You may not remember this. Leonard Zelig was the kind of ordinary everyday man who you’d expect to live an ordinary everyday life. Somehow, though, he managed to find himself regularly appearing with extraordinary celebrated people during extraordinary celebrated events. Leonard Zelig isn’t a real person. Never was. Yet Woody Allen’s brilliant 1983 mockumentary Zelig left theater-goers thinking he was.

It seems like we all have our Leonard Zelig moments. We live each ordinary day in an ordinary way. Then, fate brings us face-to-face with extraordinary people in extraordinary times. Think about the times you’ve found yourself at the same shop with a movie or TV star – someone who seems so distant because our only connection to them is through some unapproachable media context. When we’re young, that can be a very exciting thing. As we age, we come to understand those distant stars are no different than us.

Like you, I’ve had my fair share of close encounters. Like the time I rode the train seated across from Pearl Bailey. (Don’t remember her? Read “My Lunch with Pearl Bailey,” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, September 13, 1990, to find out more about the incident and the subject.) I always tried my best to be polite and respect the person as a person. (Except in the case of John Dean, who, while having dinner with him, I bluntly said, “You Continue Reading “George and Me”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1980 Presidential Election, Buffalo Bills, Central Intelligence Agency, Davenport College, Jack Kemp, John Dean, Monroe County Republican Committee, New Hampshire, Pearl Bailey, President George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Vermont, Vermont State Republican Committee, voodoo economics, Woody Allen, Young Republicans, Zelig

How Has Your Life Changed in the Past 30 Years?

By Chris Carosa on March 20, 2018

By Raphaël Thiémard from Belgique (Berlin 1989, Fall der Mauer, Chute du mur) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Where were you in 1989? Were you glued to the television watching the Berlin Wall come down, symbolizing the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the dawning of democracy in Western Europe? Perhaps, instead, you marveled at the picture of the one lone protestor in Tiananmen Square stare down a column of tanks as China decided it would not experience the same fate as its communist rival. Back on the brighter side, evil nemesis Ayatollah Khomeini died, although that didn’t seem to change much. Oh, yeah, and George H. W. Bush was sworn in what many expected to mark the beginning of Ronald Reagan’s “third” term.

Maybe, rather than the geopolitick, you preferred the here and now of the budding world of technology. You probably couldn’t believe this “486” chip just introduced by Intel could make “home” computers (that’s what they were called then) operate so fast. Little did you know you’d need that extra power to best use Microsoft’s new entry into the business software market with its product called “Office.” (And, if you were like most of us, you’d have thought only a fool would believe Excel could supplant Lotus’ 1-2-3.) Less interested in home computers? How about home video games? Nintendo releases something called a “Game Boy,” an 8-bit handheld system featuring interchangeable cartridges that revolutionized the industry.

High tech not your gig? No doubt you spent time waiting in line at the post office to buy a Continue Reading “How Has Your Life Changed in the Past 30 Years?”

Posted in Media, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1989, 486, Al Michaels, Batman, Berlin Wall, Bickering Bills, China, excel, Game Boy, George H. W. Bush, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Intel, Loma Prieta, Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Office, Ronald Reagan, Soviet Union, The Little Mermaid, The Sentinel, Tiananmen Square, Toyota Lexus, World Series