I’m not comfortable with turning 50. Before I turned 30, I thought, I gotta get my shit together. So I arranged to get my teaching certificate before I turned 30. Before I turned 40, I thought about Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate,” and reassured myself that I had moved to New York City, and had […]

Toil and Trouble

When you are on lockdown half a block from a murder, and later are told you probably know the shooter personally, it’s a bad week. When you are told the person who’s probably the shooter but who really knows has said he is so sorry, that is the next week, and it ain’t great, either. […]

In America

I cut wildly long passages from de Toqueville. Yes, it’s great for our juniors to read historical sources on the American character, but seriously, have you read de Toqueville? Whew. I added little pictures where we stopped during reading to answer questions such as, “Are Americans greedy or generous?” “Do Americans work too much, or […]

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 […]