Do I, or do I not, have Covid? This is a question that occupies millions of us every day with varying degrees of urgency. The answer may determine whether we go to work, whether our children go to school, whether we get to see our friends or relatives for dinner this weekend or for a … Continue reading The Quantum Physics of Covid Testing

The other day I couldn’t remember the word “kayak.” I was making a list of things to do, and one of them was to pull our kayak out of the basement in case the grandkids wanted to take it out on the Gulf when they visited next week. And my pen hovered over the page … Continue reading The Word for the Thing in the Basement

We live in a world increasingly divided by diametrically opposing accounts of civic realities, paired narratives that don’t just conflict, but wholly contradict each other, each claiming credibility and often achieving it within its target faction. The examples are legion, but take just three: the “Trump Won” narrative versus the narrative of the “Big Lie”; … Continue reading The Lost Language of a Shared Reality

What we used to call shame is being shamed out of existence. We are not supposed to feel it, and we are certainly not supposed to inflict it. But what else do we lose when we dispense with a sense of shame? To define the word is to understand why the current culture reviles it. … Continue reading The Shame of It All

In my home state of Ohio, the legislature has until the end of September to agree on a new Congressional district map, or the process gets punted to nominally bi-partisan but Republican-dominated commission. Public hearings on the redistricting process are being held here and in other state capitals, and it's a good time to revisit … Continue reading Ducks, Snakes, and Toilet Seats: Redistricting the Gerrymenagerie

Wallace Stegner, one of the great writers and teachers of writing of the second half of the last century, had this to say about the experience of having one’s writing published: The man who publishes a book is a man with a sending set but no receiver, broadcasting messages into space without ever knowing whether … Continue reading On Taking My Clothes Off in Public

Someone should start a blog or a podcast about bookpaths. Maybe I will. It wouldn’t be just about books themselves, their stories or their style, but about how certain books find their way to us and through us to others, and often circle back to us repeatedly over the course of our lives. I had … Continue reading Bookpaths

Back in the Sixties, segregationists opposed to the impending Civil Rights Act of 1964 were fond of saying “you can’t legislate morality.” By which they meant that morality is a bottom-up enterprise, an ultimately spiritual, individualistic goal, and not one that can be imposed from the top down. All of which was then and is … Continue reading On Legislating Morality

Joni Mitchell's hugely influential album "Blue" turned 50 last week, and fitting tribute was paid in a compendium of artists' appreciations in the New York Times, which includes some wonderful photographs like the one here. By way of honoring the anniversary of "Blue," my own tribute to Joni, first posted here in 2017, is reproduced … Continue reading Joni Mitchell, “Blue,” and Me

Proust had his madeleines. For my daughter, it’s oysters. We’d gathered our portion of our extended family — her and her husband and two little boys, my wife and me — on an island in Florida for a post-pandemic reunion, and were out to dinner. With our usual alacrity we agreed we needed a dozen … Continue reading A Memory of Oysters