Lit

On Sunday, I lit a candle in each room of my house: bedroom (dresser), bathroom (shelf), and living room (windowsill). Usually I light one at a time. As I lit them, I thought, I am going to forget one. I will burn my house down! My mother always used to warn me about this. I […]

Bricks

Twice in the last month a kid has said to me, I used this word. And you taught me that word. I have that word now. When you teach an infant a word, the first time a baby says a word, it’s magical, video camera worthy. These were the two words: arduous and abyss. Apparently […]

Architectural Cravings, Fatherly Advice, and Closed Doors

“For a few of my Harvard years, I taught drawing to architecture students, and during that time I became convinced that we human beings gravitate toward spaces that are metaphors for our inner lives.” –Martha Beck, Expecting Adam, Berkley Books, 1999.

My house has slanted ceilings, while my workplace has generous, soaring space above.

Camera Ready

The most comfortable part of being videotaped is reaching up and down your own shirt to attach a microphone, while a complete stranger watches you. There’s a real second-base awkwardness to this, at least for a woman. I have been videotaped in my classroom twice now. It’s great revenge on a person who used to […]