Life
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
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
How do you parent when you have no idea what is best for your child?
When my adult son was starting high school, he was into some shenanigans. I didn’t catch him red handed in anything, but I recognized some things from my own youth. I suspected he was raiding my liquor cabinet. For the record, my liquor cabinet was a shelf in the pantry with a few bottles of … Read more