The Shameful Thing I Did to a Complete Stranger
A few weeks ago, I did something shameful. A door-to-door salesman knocked on the door, triggering our dogs, who barked wildly. I slipped out the front door and found a lanky young man, probably younger than my son, dressed as if he were going golfing. He was selling insecticide treatments. They spray around your house … Read more
In a moment of chaos, can you focus on what matters the most?
At my brother’s going away party, back in 1985, on the eve of his departure for a job in South Carolina, a large-ish group of us packed into The Trio Tavern, a crappy, neighborhood bar in Cleveland. (It may have been a crappy neighborhood bar, but it was our crappy neighborhood bar.) It was an … Read more
Here are 3 Things I learned about humanity on a trip to Portland, Oregon and Multnomah Falls
My wife and I traveled to Portland, Oregon a couple of weeks ago to visit one of our kids who was there on a business trip. We had no specific agenda other than to check things out in and around Portland and so we ended up at the Multnomah Falls along the Columbia River gorge, … Read more
When memory is all you have left, how do you cling to what matters?
This Picayune is written with a heavy heart, as America’s far-too-easy access to military-grade weapons has caused yet another unthinkable tragedy. The grief and fear over gun violence is palpable, and to ignore it is inhuman. But I’ll tell my little story and carry on, as the focus here is about books, and smarter and … Read more