My 94-year-old father dove down the basement stairs backwards June 26, 2015. The aftereffects of that fall signaled a sea change: Dad had to move somewhere safe, like a senior care home. The move was effected, but by the end of the process, I felt I had delivered him over to the devil. Continue reading
Slums don’t just happen. They are engineered by masterminds like Mr. Fab. I know. It’s happening here. Continue reading
What simple history the turtle of Chesapeake Bay makes: nothing happened for millions of years until the predator entered the scene in the early 17th century. It’s been a rough ride for the turtle ever since. Continue reading
Planet Earth is an ailing patient, doomed to die if Earthlings don’t reduce collective consumption to reverse global warming, warned Prince Charles recently. Lucky it’s not true. We can’t stop. Nor can he. Continue reading
Hooray! I’m entering an essay contest. What fun! What excitement! What hopes have suddenly opened up before me! If I write the best 200-word essay on why I would like to own and operate this gorgeous New England B&B, I win the B&B! No strings attached. Continue reading
I wrote a play. It took me two years, and I was very happy with it when it was done. All I wanted now was to see talented actors whip light, movement, sound into those words. But no. The fate of my play, though common, was brutal. Continue reading
Two loungers lay on a sun-drenched pier by a gorgeous lake one picture-perfect day, thumbing their smartphones. I winced. The cell phone has indeed become indispensible. We do not transcend through it, we are not enriched by it. But we can’t put it down. How come? Continue reading
My neighborhood was invaded in late Spring by a fragment of a diaspora. They’re down there now. Having a good time. Living it up. Hanging loose. Smoking. Making noise. And what happened? Nothing too uncommon. Noisy neighbors moved in. Life has been hell here ever since. Continue reading
Focus on the obscenities the censors let slide. Keep Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy, Snowden in Russia. You’ll be safe, protected. Oh, yes, monitored, too, but that doesn’t hurt. You won’t feel a thing. Continue reading
What better ropes off chattel for domestic slave labor and the licensed orgy than the burqa? Even Gucci would be preferable. Continue reading