The Task at Hand

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. – Helen Keller. I set this rule for myself: if I took a task out of the box, I had to do it. There was only one I failed […]

Strangers

I took a subway I don’t normally take, my friend who dropped me off at the station had asked me if I was okay, and I was as always touched by the suggestion by a man that I would not be all right, as I always expected myself to keep myself all right almost all the […]

Neighbors

This morning we stopped in front of the United Order of Mechanics, it was a building that used to be the Lincoln Club, a Republican institution from back when Republicans were Republicans. A man in a minivan with open windows said, “Hey, are you looking at our building?” I was on this walking tour with […]

Paternal Grandparents

My stepmom’s dad, the grandpa who was there, he was a man of thickness, thick, heavy bones, he was built as if of iron, and insistent, wavy white hair that was thicker than the most expensive bath towel and grew twice as fast. He picked us up from school. While he waited, he took out his […]