Zoltar, Who Isn’t Real

I don’t want to know the future, yet I stop at Zoltar’s machine every time I visit Coney Island. It’s been a while. I still have all my fortunes in a decorated matchbox, in case I need to consult them. It’s part of my fascination with animatronics, robots intended for fun, and the whole Pygmalion […]

Eagle When She Flies

Dolly Parton died, and damnit, why? Today, the day after she died, I put on the important songs for my first hour class to listen to. My assistant and I talked about how great she was, after he had reminded me about “Islands in the Stream,” which I can’t believe I forgot. It was day […]

Fish Were Jumping

I mention to the barista that I have to go back to school tomorrow. “I used to work at a school. First I was a preschool teacher, and then I was a janitor. I found whole apples stuck in the toilets.” Thus the summer came to an end. I chose Hawaiian coffee, because the sound […]

Tragedy Plus Time

Here’s how I feel about theater: Of the arts, ingesting books and paintings is important, but ingesting theater is also very important. Today I drove up to an improv theater where my yoga teacher has regularly performed, without me in the audience. (Sorry.) Now, I’ve done this before, paid for and showed up for what […]