Let’s stop devaluing the breadth of skills that parents bring to the table.
What Frightens You?
I was a reading a news report this morning, a serious one, about a young man who died on the rails of the French metro system, in a freakish incident. He was grabbed from the crowd at random, and pulled in front of an arriving train by a crazy man who took a complete stranger […]
The Treasure Box
Jewelry case, treasure box, and secret objects Doesn’t every kid have a treasure box? Some sort of secret container tucked under a bed or stowed in the back of a closet? Made out of cardboard or straw, velvet or plastic. Perhaps an old cigar box. Remember those? Or a metal case that held who-knows-what, subsequently […]
The Fairness Doctrine
Life isn’t fair On a rainy afternoon three years ago, my elder son and I were in a car accident. He was driving. My son was unhurt as was the other driver, but I sustained minor injuries and the car was totaled. I was without regular employment at the time, and therefore without disability insurance […]
Jetsons Jukebox (Why We Shouldn’t Imagine the Future)
Jetsons? Jukebox? Parents and teens, whatever the century?
I have my own planet. (Can’t I just stay here?)
Women in the baby blur You know that blur that occurs after (most) women have babies? And they don’t have nannies to help, or nearby family stepping in on a regular basis, or maybe they do, but the reality of the days and nights is a growing fuzziness, a stream of sleeplessness and round-the-clock activity? […]
Clocking time
Are your dreams on hold? Are you floating in a perpetual state of waiting? One more number? One more indistinguishable face in the crowd, chasing through an exhausting schedule that seems like nothing more than clocking time? You’re following the hour hand and the minute hand with your eyes, listening to the slow ticking of […]
Suck Balls
“Suck balls,” he says. “What?” I choke back the laughter. “You heard me,” he repeats. “Suck balls. Sour balls. Or a lemon.” Home remedies, saliva ducts, sour balls, lack of lemons. Last evening everything was “usual” until we were struck by our typically unusual “usual” – my son, just before dinner, emerged from his version […]
Next generation marriage
“I want to get married,” he says. The words are fired off into the air and seem to settle there, stark and defiant, as though some invisible structure of wires and pulleys holds the phrase in place so I cannot turn away. Then each letter tumbles down through the air, disintegrating. These are special effects. […]
An Apple for the Teacher
Did you ever have a teacher or professor who changed your life? Or at the very least, believed in you just when you needed it most? I can remember several, in high school and college mostly, men and women who fed my hunger to learn, and allowed me the space to dream. I never forgot […]