Elegy – Part 1: Evocation

I knew I’d never be able to write much about my mother while she was alive.  It would be too complicated and potentially wounding to her, potentially destructive to our relationship.  I never wanted to cause her pain, so I imagined it might be another 20 years before I could share anything about her or about our relationship. But last year […]

Posted on: 9 September 2016 | 9:11 am

Jennifer Lawrence Who?

Most of what we consume online is stuff that has already gone viral. What does this imply? It means that people are mostly only seeing and hearing all the same things that everyone else they know is seeing and hearing. This is boring. And dangerous.

Posted on: 5 November 2014 | 12:20 pm

Robin Williams: The Death of Our Imaginary Friend

Imaginary friends populated my youth. In childhood, my sister and I each had an invisible elephant (one pink, one blue) that we’d ride around the col-de-sac.  Mythical creatures inhabited my backyard and the trees all had names. As a pre-teen my entire family became obsessed with the Addam’s Family because they seemed like the most apt […]

Posted on: 12 August 2014 | 5:04 pm

Here to Give Ourselves Away

It  had been a very long time since I’d been alone in a cemetery.   I was walking down a hill into the village of Gavarnie in the middle of the Pyrenees, looking for a good place to sit and write… when I glanced over a wall into the church graveyard. I was held where I stood by three […]

Posted on: 7 August 2014 | 6:18 pm

Staying Alive: Time for a Change

I don’t think I know very many people who aren’t struggling a lot of the time to feel alive. Sometimes the days, weeks, even months drain by, but they don’t speak to us – they almost don’t say a word.  They pass, but we are not quite sure how, because we did not often stop and […]

Posted on: 22 July 2014 | 5:51 pm

World Cup Showdown Part 3: Sporting Subjectivity and the Fun of a Little Hate

This is Part 3 or a four part series narrating the entire story of the 2014 World Cup as a game fought between the Beautiful Game and the Ugly Deception.  I invite you to read (or at least skim!) Part 1 and 2 first for a bit of context.   It’s halftime!   Now for some commercials… […]

Posted on: 17 July 2014 | 5:34 pm

World Cup Showdown Part 2: the Narrative Value of Soccer

NOTE: This is a continuation of a previous post on the World Cup in which the tournament is itself one large game played between two sides:  The Beautiful Game and the Ugly Deception. If you’d like to read the first section please click here:  World Cup Showdown Part 1: The Beautiful Game vs The Ugly Deception *** […]

Posted on: 10 July 2014 | 4:49 pm

World Cup Showdown Part 1: The Beautiful Game vs The Ugly Deception

(Disclaimer:  In this post I may be writing soccer and football synonymously because I’m from the US but live with a South American and we use both terms interchangeably.  Deal with it 😉  ) Pre-game Postulation:  Things to Look Out for During the Match Despite having seen what must be almost 100 hours of World Cup soccer/football […]

Posted on: 9 July 2014 | 1:57 pm

At Home in Saudade

Have you ever picked up a book that you had read once before, a long while back, and been struck by how different an experience it was reading it a second time?  When we repeat an experience many years later, whether it’s related to art, music or literature, a hobby or activity, or visiting a […]

Posted on: 2 June 2014 | 6:23 am

Alone Is Not An Invitation

The perks of the freelancing lifestyle are numerous –  you don’t have to go to an office, you don’t have to get dressed, you don’t have to make smalltalk with your colleagues, and you get to choose your own work schedule.  But after a while that sense of freedom can flip into what feels like […]

Posted on: 10 February 2014 | 4:11 pm