I’d call that a bargain, especially if you have a certain curiosity about domesticated animals with sight impairment. In today’s dollars, that quarter would be $3.39. Still cheap, cheap, cheap to see a sightless hog. But wait there’s more . . . Back in 1925, when alcohol was prohibited in the USA, you could pay […]

Read more "In 1925, $0.25 Got You a View of a Blind Pig"

There are three scenarios where one’s performance can be assessed and graded. All of these have their pros and cons; none of them is without both self-worry and self-endorsement. Scenario #1: The performer is being observed by a known audience. There is a preexisting connection between actor and observer(s). This formerly-established relationship provides both a […]

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I’ve heard my children, especially my 12-year-old daughter, employ the word “awkward” on a regular basis. For the most part, she — along with her peers and her brothers — have used one of the three acceptable usages of “awkward” accurately, albeit in excess. The “use of word over time” line graph is current to […]

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I’ve taken days off, a lot of them, in the writing of Accidental Gravitas. Were I running “on schedule” — which for me has meant writing the first draft of a novel in fifty-seven (or fewer) days — I would have put a large box on my bookshelf in my writing space three days ago. But […]

Read more "What If . . . ? (Redux)"

This is Ganesha. He is one of the most well-known and most worshiped deities in the collection of Hindu gods. Though I have never been to India, Sri Lanka or Nepal, I understand I’d see see him all over in that part of the world. In addition to the many sects in Hinduism, Jains and […]

Read more "Falling Prey to Distractions"

I can’t think of a punchline because this is no joke. Last night these three people, of which I was one, spent a good long time in my sauna. What started out as an informal holiday meal among friends ended in a cerebral conversation about death. Three women — all middle-aged, college-educated, healthy, married, mothers […]

Read more "A Buddhist, an Atheist, and an Agnostic walk into a Sauna"

I brush my teeth in the morning and at night. My evening cleaning includes flossing, a habit I didn’t adopt until June 8, 1996. The date sticks out in my mind because this was the first night of my two-year Peace Corps service. Standing at the sink — with only a toothbrush and a large […]

Read more "The Worth and Limits of Flossing"

About a month ago I wrote a post titled “Three Things I Love in My Mouth” and got a lot of feedback on the blog and on FB. Mine were kale, coffee, and gin. One I have daily, another several times a week, and the other never. (If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, […]

Read more "Three Things Revisited"

Invariably, I wake up before the rest of my house — dogs included. This has been going on for years. And for years, I’d fritter away the peaceful space of the dark morning hours clicking and scrolling. Occasionally, I’d read as I worked my way through a pot of coffee. Then last April, I decided […]

Read more "Moonrise Revisited"

You like me. You really like me. But  . . . She didn’t say those words when she accepted her Oscar Award in 1984, though those very words have been widely attributed to the ones which left her mouth. Nope. Not properly quoted. Here’s what she did say: “I can’t deny the fact that you […]

Read more "Sally Field Said It Best"