From the Chair

“This will hurt some, but it would hurt a lot more if I give you a shot in your gums,” the nice bald Russian man said. I nodded. I’d had someone push and trim along my gum line with a hideous instrument before, it had gone fine. Nerve pain in a tooth is the worst, […]

Seasonal Weather

When you can run around half-naked, it’s different. I think. Anyway it is different in southern California. Every time I visit, their lack of giving a shit impresses me. I read Joan Didion, on California: it has to work there, she says, because there is nowhere else. You are on the edge there. Which explains better […]

Levels

I was seated right next to someone, although there were plenty of seats at the counter. “I taught high school for eleven years,” I said, instead of saying, “I am a teacher,” or, “I am a writer.” In Kansas City, when I say I am a writer, I think people find me eccentric. In New York, I’m […]

Small Animals

I thought Sardi’s was a tourist trap. And I thought I could not afford it. My way of going to see Broadway shows has always been to eat a slice of pizza beforehand, because after paying for a ticket that is all that seems prudent. I happened to be meeting a friend in Times Square, […]