Rome I

On the Atlantic flight, my seatmate is actually Italian, Pisan. He works for a chain of fitness centers that are just expanding in Italy, and I rudely suggest that I thought European women didn’t exercise. The chain is like 24 Hour Fitness, or Curves, he explains. Yes, I’ve heard of them. Do I belong? I […]

Spidey Sense

When I was growing up, we had this book entitled, “Be Nice to Spiders.” Its narrative suggested that taking a spider to the zoo was a compassionate alternative to smashing it. Spiders kill and eat a lot of the truly nasty bugs that you don’t want in your house. And can’t we all just get […]

Death Becomes Him

The week before Michael Jackson died, I bought “Say Say Say” from iTunes. To be honest, this was a coincidence: I was in a cheesy-former-Beatles mood, and not on a Michael Jackson bender. However, I have all my life felt obligated to turn Michael Jackson jokes around with, “Okay, but he made some great dance […]

Borrowing the Car

When I was eighteen, I could already drive a stick shift. Definitely. I had to learn to drive on a stick because that was the car my mom had. It was drive a stick or don’t drive. But I had never driven a European car– we had a Corolla. So at eighteen, I sat alone […]