Kid Stuff

“The curator of the refrigerator door can’t be too ruthless. When Dad de-accessions a new finger painting overnight, Dr. Burton said, ‘the child quickly learns that this art that they’re making is very ephemeral.’ In other words, worthless.” — “Mom, You’re One Tough Art Critic,” Michael Tortorello, New York Times In elementary school, we made […]

Performance

In the 80’s, it was hard to find a Broadway show to take kids to. Maybe “A Chorus Line” wasn’t appropriate, but what was? Broadway was for grown-ups. As was Times Square, where we were offered cocaine, impressing the hell out of me. The city! Its dangers! I saw “A Chorus Line” on Broadway when I […]

Annotated Bibliography: Autopsies

The purpose of my reading has been to taste and digest the greatest novels, hoping that their calories will build my writing muscles, and that I’ll better know how to taste my own work, what spices to add as I’m cooking up my own stories. Some things, though, I just can’t develop a taste for. […]

By Example

Today I found out that my friend Chuck died, and I went to see a psychiatrist for the first time. Big day. Chuck and I got our coffee at the same place for many years. He was in his 70s when I met him. We read the newspapers together, and sometimes he asked me a […]