Tag Archive | life
Throwing Rosa Parks From the Train
The train conductor resembled how Lee Harvey Oswald might have looked in late middle age: white, wiry, angry-looking. He prowled rather than strolled the aisles as he took our tickets, wearing the wary and ready-to-shoot face of a cop looking for an escaped felon in an abandoned building. The passenger was also middle-aged, but black, […]
The Freedom to Feel Ridiculous
Put Margaret Thatcher, the Dalai Lama or Mitt Romney in an unflattering swimsuit and an inner tube, and set them afloat on the “lazy river” that snakes through the nearest water park, and you start to see them a little differently. Even the most dignified people look and feel ridiculous in this moving river of […]
Why Can’t We Be Friends?
One of my favorite Harry Chapin songs, called “Taxi,” includes this memorable line: “And she said, ‘We must get together.’ But I knew it never’d be arranged.” The scenario was a faded taxi driver discovering that his late-night fare was a long-lost love, who had gone on to become a famous actress while he drove […]
Gimme Swelter: 10 Tips for a Retro Summer Day
What did we do before everybody had air-conditioning? We sought out the shade. We licked icy things. We ran through the sprinkler. We crowded in front of the most powerful fan in the house, which dried our sweat and garbled the words we spoke into it like a primitive synthesizer. We wore cotton baby doll […]
Are We Busy For All the Wrong Reasons?
The most emailed article from Sunday’s New York Times is one by writer Tim Kreider, who extols the benefits of being less busy. The article claims that for most people, busyness is more pointless than purposeful; something we do because we are afraid our lives will be meaningless if we don’t fill every second. “Busyness […]
Suiting Up for Adulthood
One of the things about having a “surprise baby” when you are near middle-age – especially if his brothers and sisters are way older – is that you don’t rush things as much. So last weekend, when we finally bought our 13-year-old his first dressy blazer at a “grown man” store, was a little bittersweet. […]
How to Win at Bingo
I always liked Bingo because it is totally based upon luck. One does not have to think strategically, or be smart, cunning and ruthless. I suck at Monopoly because it requires all of these things. In Bingo you merely watch and listen for the rattling of the cage that delivers your fate to the metal […]
Why Laziness Can Be a Virtue
The happiest people, I’ve been told, have a sense of purpose: a mission they are passionate about, children to care for, a class to teach, a milestone to reach. They are energetic and industrious, unable or unwilling to stay still. They have things to accomplish every day, and a brightly burning drive to fill their […]
The Story of Another Jack and Bobby
Most of us thankfully can depend on family members to support us day in and day out during the worst of times. How many of us have at least one great friend who will do the same? Last week I spent time with Jack and Bobby, a pair of 74-year-old buddies whose friendship started in […]
You Say You Want a Resolution? Start Taking Your Own Advice
Happy New Year to all of my readers! Please disregard the nagging nature of this headline. It’s directed not to you but to me. But if you have the bad habit of trying to get others to break the bad habits that you share with them (maybe unbeknownst even to you!) then please read on […]
