It was 1962, Wichita, Kansas. My Dad surveyed the front yard—a very big front yard, a grim look on his face. "Weeds," he pronounced sullenly, as if our front yard had become the equivalent of ... [+]
PONOS ROAD PONOS was the personified Greek spirit of hard labor and toil. The wide, gravel path snaked through a scrub meadow joining two working-class neighborhoods. Every kid in the ... [+]
I don't remember which I encountered first: Helene Hanff's book, 84 Charing Cross Road, or the Anne Bancroft / Anthony Hopkins movie of the same name. All I know is that decades later the title's ... [+]
Christmas presents always took a back seat to certain Christmas foods when I was growing up. My parents gave each child only two presents. When we were young, they were a toy (usually something ... [+]
It wasn't fair. EJ had found him, brought him home, set up a comfy, warm bed of hay in the basement; she'd even named him. But from our first encounter on that cold January night, Mister Peepers only ... [+]
I stand by my front door with car keys in hand, flip-flops on my feet, panic in my heart."Let me get this right: I am going to take this gigantic menopausal body," I wave my hand like a Price is Right ... [+]
Everyone receives gifts they neither need nor want—bath salts for people who only shower, a frilly nightgown wrapped up for someone who sleeps in sweatpants, that 27th tie . . . Sometimes we ... [+]
For RichardIt was 1984 and we were pretending to be spies.It was one of those "adult" games that twists your arm to mingle. Our host, David, greeted us at the door with a card that had our assignment ... [+]
Books are gentle companions. Usually. Except for that one time I was just about murdered by books. That was twenty years ago . . .***I didn't know what to do with my life. I had no prospects. I had an ... [+]
JANUARY 2020. 7234 miles from Chicago, China reports the first death from a novel coronavirus. There is no evidence it can spread among humans. I'm commuting to school and two women on the train are ... [+]
Yesterday it was sixty degrees outside, so I took my bike out for the first time all winter. I biked across the river to return a pair of jeans I'd bought online the week earlier; it turns out that ... [+]
Nature is calling. As a new intern in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) my bladder is not yet trained to resist this instinctual human need. The team has been rounding for six hours, discussing ... [+]
I met Mia for the first time at my tennis club. A small Chinese woman with dark brown eyes and short-cropped black hair, she greeted me with a heavy Chinese accent."Are you Ken?" she asked.To my ... [+]
Autumn's here—Happy New Year! Not for me, that pallid substitute in January with its noisemakers and forgotten resolutions. My calendar resets annually with the opening of classroom doors, no matte ... [+]
abecedarian a novice learning the rudiments of a subject, a beginner or amateur; a student; straightforward, simplified; in literature, a work arranged in order according to the alphabet, often ... [+]
Out in the world, no one sleeps. No one, no one.No one sleeps.—Federico García Lorca, "Sleepless City (Brooklyn Bridge Nocturne)"Madrid 2007. Sometime after 3 am. In six hours, I'll be discussing ... [+]
My hands used to create magic. I think with the increasing demands of adulthood, they've had their spark pulled right out of them. My little sister's hands still glisten with it, but I fear her hunge ... [+]
1)At exactly 5:50 p.m., your mother-in-law will anxiously announce, "Someone needs to go get the crabs right now!" When you first met her, shortly after meeting her son, you called her by her first ... [+]