For My Mother on Her Birthday
Sean MurphyI’m scared, I said. “It’s okay,” she said. “You know I’ll never leave you, right? I would never leave this place without you.” How many times did she tell me…
Brooklyn, 2014: Words & Music, New-School Style
May 29, 2014. It was billed as a throwback to the old Beatnik days, minus the bongos and clove cigarettes. As such, New York City was a mandatory locale; Brooklyn…
Every Dog Owner Has His Day
i. Isn’t being irreplaceable the whole point? ONCE YOU’VE BECOME an adult of a certain age, you cease to be surprised by how quickly time passes. I’ve gone from lamenting…
The Molly Ringwald Evolutionary Trio
Question: The Molly Ringwald Evolutionary Trio: What celebrity did you desperately want to have sex with at three different ages–sixteen, twenty-one, and then thirty? Answers, below. Summer ’86. I had…
Ars Moriendi or, The Art of Dying (American Style)
This post takes some excerpts from my memoir Please Talk About Me When I’m Gone. While this project is an attempt to commemorate –and celebrate– my mother’s life, it also…
Stuart Scott: Winning
All of us are winning by virtue of being alive. By fighting. But we too often frame discussion of cancer with the now-obligatory martial themes: fighting, battling, winning, losing. Etc.…
Mundial de Futbol*
Tomaso sat down to watch the day’s action. He had missed several crucial games from the 1990 tournament because, like most men, the extraordinary physics and logistics involved in setting…
Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past: Steinbeck, Nostalgia, Empathy and Amtrak*
i. WHEN I FIRST read John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America I was not quite old enough to drive. Still, I felt I could appreciate his somewhat…
The Story of My Life (Revisited)
Let me tell you a story. Last week, Jason Herskowitz joined me for a Google Hangout, and we discussed the rapidly changing music industry. The issue at hand was whether…
Memorial Day*
I. I'll Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive Cyrus has never actually discussed his brief stint in the army that took him to Vietnam. On a couple of occasions…