The clothes make the teen (man) There was the suspender phase. And the bow-tie phase. And the tie-dye phase (which has yet to end). Ripped jeans? Ever in fashion. Likewise, the torn and worn leather jacket. Apparently, one has moved on to a taste for preppy classics: neat sweaters (to my relief) and strangely, argyle […]
Giving Shape to Invisibility
Giving shape to invisibility. I plucked those evocative words from a writer I’ve recently discovered, Wolf Pascoe at Just Add Father, and the reference comes from this: When I was eight, my father died suddenly. My mother never remarried. As a result, a good part of my life has been defined by what was missing. […]
Essentials: Anything Goes in the Name of Art?
Health + Family + Relationship + Work. Essential to a good life, don’t you think? Of course, you may wish to rearrange the sequence to reflect your circumstances or values. Some of you may add in “faith” or spiritual inclination. As for myself, I would include a roof overhead and food on the table, without […]
Dental Dam(n) and Cool Whip
Your eyelids are swollen shut and you’re trying to pry them open and feeling for your glasses which, oddly, aren’t in the place where you put them every damn night but somehow they’ve gone AWOL when you’re running late and you can’t see anyway because (a) you can’t find your glasses and (b) your eyelids […]
Ordinary Days
Aren’t we a culture that professes to value individuals? A society that goes wild over the stand-out: exceptional performance, particular charm, something – anything – distinctive? And don’t we oo and ah over beauty? And yet. The distinctions we seek – in professions and in personal style – are increasingly conventional. As for beauty, who […]
‘Twas the Morn Before Christmas. . .
‘Twas the morn before Christmas And all through the house Teens were still sleeping, No signs they might grouse When asked to participate In picking up Trails of their messes – The odd glass or cup Left on the couch, On the floor, on the table – (Why can’t they walk to the sink – […]
People Pleasing, Big Bellies, Weird Facts
What better time of year for a story of a ho ho ho big belly? No – I’m not referring to Santa Claus, Saint Nick, or any other variation of bearded man in a red suit. However, while researching sneezing the other day, I ran into the following juicy tidbit. Thank you Guinness Book of […]
Sneezing and Wheezing
For thirty minutes yesterday I was possessed by a power greater than myself. A whopper of a sneezing fit. Let me preface this little tale by pointing out that I am not prone to fits of any sort, except for the occasional outbreak of exuberant rhyming, and speaking in accents – both generally the result […]
End of the Year Clearance on Complaint Monday!
You’re sitting in your office trying to make peace with your inner pout. You’re trying to remember where you put the last of the Christmas cards. You’ve got to jam just one or two more holiday errands into the lunch hour. OHMYGOD will you remember to tip the mail carrier and the mechanic and the […]
48 Hours
48 hours. Well, technically, it’s been less. But in the past two days, we’ve had some of my true drug of choice: sleep. My son has scored some serious snooze time, and I’ve racked up more zzzzs than usual, though I’m staring at a pretty depleted well after our marathon of days and nights this […]