personal history
Adventures in Catsitting
When my good friend Leila emailed me, asking if I’d take care of her cat for a few days, two thoughts immediately sprung to mind: 1) Hey, that might be a fun, change-of-pace sort of thing. 2) Gee, I hope I don’t end up in the emergency room again. You see, cats and I have […]
Tartans and Violets Clash
Maybe the college you attended was an athletic powerhouse. You still follow them today, via March Madness, bowl games, national TV, perhaps the occasional recruiting scandal. This has not been the case for me. However, I found myself at the “Tear It Up” women’s/men’s Division III basketball doubleheader on Friday, January 27, 2012, at the […]
Emails Found on my Old Computer, Episode #4
Last night, seven and a half years later, I saw the same band at the same club. Could’ve sworn that had been a Valentine’s weekend show, but maybe that’s because the band, Higgins, handed out a CD in a Russell Stover heart box with chocolates inside. The chocolates and box are long gone, as are […]
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I just read a beautiful essay by my friend Maria, whose family emigrated from Russia to the U.S. when she was quite young. Maria wrote about a recent return visit, and the flood of fractured memories it brought back. The essay summoned memories of my own. Not of a childhood geographic upheaval—my own family’s emigration […]
I’ll try to rest my voice for a while.
In what I’m guessing was summer 2003 (I was a new cellphone owner, and we were at war with Iraq), my friend-since-junior-high Jeff was visiting from San Francisco. We would be meeting up later with our other friend Steve. I was greatly looking forward to the day. The only problem: I lost my voice! I […]
Thank You, Andy Rooney
I like funny. Maybe more than anything, I like funny. Interesting to think about how a sense of humor forms. We all like to laugh, right? Most of us, anyway. But how does it start? Certainly, I’m no child-development expert. But at least from when my long-term memory kicked in, I know I liked cartoons. […]
Could You Make It Out to Jack?
“[Random public figure] replied to my Tweet!” gushed an otherwise austere friend. Socioeconomic levels be damned—there’s a bit of starf*cker in us all. These days, the methods of choice seem to be: • the aforementioned realm of social media, and • if we actually encounter a celebrity in person, a photo—due to the fact that […]
Simply the Best
We’re all familiar with the woe-is-me saying “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” Sisters, I feel your pain. I’m 42 and single, but you know, I’m not even talking about that. Screw being the groom—I would be the ideal best man. The best best man! Want a bachelor party? I am always planning some sort […]
Thank You, R.E.M.
They weren’t my first favorite band—that honor goes to Queen, and next, the Police—but R.E.M. certainly had the biggest impact on me, from high school into adulthood. How did I find out about them? Rolling Stone magazine, probably. I know I bought the second album, Reckoning, first. I was 15 years old and music was […]
September Remembered
I don’t get into work real early. I used to, in the early ’90s I guess, but it wasn’t really in my true nature. Anyway, that’s why I wasn’t yet in Manhattan when the towers were struck on September 11, 2001. I was all ready to go in. Showered, shaved. In the mornings I listen […]
Jack Silbert, curator