Total Immersion Freestyle Swimming

I am in the process of learning to swim. I taught myself to swim when I was 14, and did a very poor job of it. In fact, because of an incident at the city pool, I have a very strong aversion to getting my face in the water, and that has hampered me forever. … Read more

The Revenge of the Cabbage Rolls

I never got around to telling this story about the cabbage rolls and my father’s intestines. As I’ve said earlier, for family events, my mother would prepare cabbage rolls by the dozen. It was usually a major production for her, but she never asked for help. She prepared it all herself, creating dozens of them … Read more

Jerk, or My Passive Aggressive Road Rage

While driving to work the other morning, a car raced past me and tried to merge into my lane in front of me. The driver, a woman, made the mistake of signaling before merging, as if asking my permission. I said no, and would not slow down to invite her in. There was no room … Read more

Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls are an ethnic dish. Very ethnic. Just the name evokes numerous cliches, and even sounds funny because of the “k” sound (which, according to Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, all funny words contain). To smell them is to know, immediately, what the word ethnic really means. My mother used to make them, and … Read more

Poop, Poop, Vomit

My neighbor made a mistake the other day, and I was happy to help the fix the problem. They went away on a Saturday morning with the intention of not returning until late Sunday. Their mistake was in forgetting about their dog, who was left alone in the house. When they called, I was happy … Read more