New Year’s Eve

I began one year by eating five expensive chocolates with a friend– we split them with a credit card, on the bar, and then went at them one at a time, tasting and discerning with eyes closed. The first thing I did in 1998 was ride the Tower of Terror. You’re in a pretend elevator, […]

Household Words: Part 5

My mother went to bed early. Her voice honked when she wasn’t sniffling, and all her pockets were full of twisted Kleenex. My father sat in his chair watching television, some woodworking show, though he isn’t too handy. Do all fathers have a chair in front of the television? Would I? I’m making tea for […]

Argument

If you want to know America, you should come at Christmas. Friendly and presumptive, open yet closed, demonstrably extravagant, yet charitable. Plenty of us don’t even celebrate it, although you would hardly know this from the panic in the air today. I remember, as a child, realizing that people could die on Christmas. Bad things […]

Dickensian

“Marley was dead, to begin with.” The day I visited Dickens’ house, it snowed. I couldn’t have asked for more. It was a sparse snow, I was wearing wool and freezing my ass off, and I had pleasant company, cheerfully tolerating my quest. Finally, I got to open the banker-green door, which Mr. Dickens himself […]