One of my fondest memories as a child is of my father reading the paper, especially on the weekend, and chuckling over the comics which we referred to as the Sunday Funnies. My own attachment to the New York Times these days – and the very tactile pleasure of slowing down to the Real Life […]
Dear Me: Get Out Of My Way
Dear Me, I don’t want to do what I don’t want to do. But I do. I know. It’s called responsibility. It’s called adulthood. Sometimes, it’s called survival. But if I only do what I don’t want to do, I’m tired and I’m cranky; my imagination stalls and my hopelessness fills out its contours all […]
Notes on the Times
On moving, on thinking, on perspectives for our times.
A Dash of Dancer, A Bite of Blixen
With memories of reindeer scampering across the roof (really!), with kids trudging sleepily through the house (even at midday), with a little of this and that ready to be placed in the oven (and so much more to be whipped up and I’ve hardly begun!), with company en route and still in the foggy wake […]
Bloggers, Journalists, and Grays in Black and White
Writing vs. Blogging vs. Journalism. Why distinctions matter… or not.
Trusting What You Hear
Do you trust what you hear from your loved ones?
Relationship Approach: Strategy or Serendipity?
He shows up with a dizzying armload of flowers, and behind them – his mischievous smile I’ve come to adore, the one that lightens everything that crazies me, the one that makes me want to drop whatever I’m holding as I take his face in my hands and kiss him, then kiss him again, and […]
Not A Cloud In Sight
The sky is blue. Not a cloud in sight. The neighborhood is silent except for the swell and retreat of cicadas in song, the occasional barking of fenced-in dogs, the passing of a car in no particular hurry. A private plane overhead banks and soars. The air is surprisingly sweet and fresh, as though some […]
Why Reading This Doesn’t Matter a Damn
Every little thought. Every little detail. Every. Single. Word. Does it matter, really? What we say and why we say it? What we write and our motivations for doing so? Who’s reading? Who’s not reading? Why do we think that each statement or question we put to ourselves is of interest to anyone else? Why […]
That Sinking Feeling
You know that feeling when you have a long, detailed list of tasks to accomplish, and you haven’t checked off a single one? You know that feeling when every time you start to sort through a pile of papers and files, you encounter something that triggers a reverie, a malevolent memory, and subsequent disappearance into […]