Fiction, Writing, Articles, Essays, Reviews.
I walk into this view and greedily soak in every color and texture until I’m drunk on beauty, cool sand beneath my feet, demure waves rippling onto shore and out again, sun spraying the sky pink and casting golden upon the water, a solitary bird my companion, the horizon and the tree line the extent of my world. I want to appreciate this moment completely and I also want to take a photo for...
A subset of the Delmar Dads Movie Club went to the Spectrum Theater last night and saw “Friendship,” a cringey black comedy starring the actor and comedian Tim Robinson, whom I’d never heard of, but apparently is popular. It was my turn to choose what film we’d see on the second Wednesday of this month, and darn if the pickings weren’t slim. I almost chose “F1” but was warned by someone trusted...
I must have been six or seven years old, hopefully not nine or ten. Our family was at Crystal Beach, an amusement park located on the shore of Lake Erie in Ontario. We went there once every summer, having earned ride tickets based on the grades we got on our report cards. My older siblings were going on the Magic Carpet, a walk-through funhouse with crooked rooms, funny mirrors, moving walls...
We are emotionally available, we have words to express our feelings. We rally for our friend in need. We are men. I can’t trust her. You shouldn’t trust her. She’s admitted to everything I’ve found out but nothing more. You’ve got her cornered. She’s on the defensive. She won’t even talk to me. Let’s have a beer. I’m a mess right now. I’m in a bad space and it feels like it will never end. We can...
I hear the jagged revving of chainsaws in my neighborhood and I head outside to investigate. A few houses down the block from mine a tree removal crew is on the job, a crane extending high into the canopy, a chipper idling in the road ready to chomp. Multiple trees are being taken down in the front of one of the shadiest houses on the block. Towering, majestic oaks I’ve always admired. They must...
The New York Post is not one of my go-to information sources, but you never know what will show up in your feed, and I clicked on an article about something called the Gen Z gaze. The first line in the article: “If you’ve ever walked up to a cashier or front desk and been met with a silent stare, you’ve been a victim of the ‘Gen Z gaze’.” Maybe you know the stare. You’re next in line and when...
An essay published by the bipartisan think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) discussed the challenge of surprising your enemy in a military attack in the twenty-first century. Back in the day, it was easier to pull off a military shocker. Case in point: the United States was woefully unprepared for the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. But today...
I annually repost this column from an earlier date of ten dad lessons I’ve learned in honor of all fathers on this Father’s Day. With every passing year, these lessons feel more relevant and continue to guide my evolving role as a father as my kids become independent adults. They’re all based on my experience. 1. Show Up Regardless of whether you live with them or not, a father’s job...
While Trump presided over a noxious display of military might at his Soviet-style parade in Washington yesterday, we participated in the No Kings protest against dictatorship and for democracy. Thousands of people in Albany came out to peacefully protest the accumulation of unconstitutional power by the current administration, to denounce its cruelty, to speak out against its policies that favor...
I’ve meant to read the British author Rachel Cusk for some time. She’s been praised by critics and awarded literary prizes throughout a writing career that has spanned twelve novels and several books of nonfiction. She writes about women, in contrast to another author I recently discovered, David Szalay, who writes about men. I probably should have started with Cusk’s acclaimed trilogy, Outline...
Since the day I was old enough to stray from my mother’s watchful eye and wander off from our blanket spread on the sandy, modest public beach at Thunder Bay on the shore of Lake Erie in Canada, I would take beach walks along the curve of the bay. Walk east, and you come across Root Beer Creek, so named by us for its water color. Walk west, and you come across a flat rock area abutting the shore...
One of my favorite punctuation marks—the em dash—(see what I did there?) is under siege. I’ve made liberal use of the em dash in all five of my novels, deploying it early and often in my writing style: STASH (page 1): “But she reminded herself that Nora was only seven, a loving, intelligent girl, tall and strong and for the most part capable, yet fearful of small things going wrong—such as...
Our hiking season begins on a perfectly pleasant day on the shoulder between Spring and Summer. Mild temps, verdant landscape, stream crossings, muddy spots, flitting bugs. Jimmy and I wanted to ease our way in, so we picked a hike of about six miles that would get us to the top of two of the highest Catskill peaks—Blackhead and Black Dome. Color of the day: green. But memory can lead us astray...
I saw you standing at the cornerLast night at First and ParkI lagged behind so we wouldn’t meetUntil you vanished in the dark Then you spot me all aloneAt the bar of our favorite jointYou walk out before I turn aroundbecause really what’s the point We never claimed we’d meet once more, by design or circumstanceWho can guess the future, who wants a second chance. We wrote a story the end was sadWe...
It’s a diploma, I know that much. And although my Latin is mighty rusty, in fact nonexistent, my best translation is this: You’ve done one hell of a job and on behalf of this university, your professors, mentors, family, and friends, we congratulate you, we honor you, we admire your keen intelligence, dedication, creativity, and hard work, and please know that trees everywhere are bowing their...
I only recently discovered a term for a phenomenon I’ve experienced many times, one we’ve all experienced—hedonic adaptation. I’ve known about hedonism, which is living to maximize pleasure, and I’m acquainted with several hedonists who have devoted their lives to pleasure, but hedonic adaptation is new for me. Hedonic adaptation is the process by which we tend to return to our baseline level...
I know first-hand about “use it or lose it” syndrome. After I stopped doing pull-ups due to a shoulder injury, when I was finally ready to try again, I could barely get myself above the bar. I used to be able to make myself understood speaking French, but having left Switzerland decades ago I’m now reduced to little more than “Bonjour” and “Au revoir.” We all experience “use it or lose it.” The...
The first rule of the Dad’s Movie Club is that we have to follow all of the rules. We have many of them. Rule #5: Movie night shall occur on the second Wednesday of every month, unless a special exception is granted in a given month and all three officers unanimously agree to the exception, which has happened only once when movie night fell on my wedding anniversary and we voted to go on Tuesday...
Today I honor the two most influential mothers in my life: my mother, Irene Klein, and my life partner and mother to Julia and Owen, Harriet Jaffe. Irene It’s been more than forty years since I’ve had a mother. I have only the same few memories of my mother; many are foggy. I can form no new ones. And many memories are long forgotten. But I know this: I loved my mom deeply. I felt a strong...
In the 2025 World Happiness Report, the United States dropped to its lowest ranking since that survey began. The U.S. ranked 24th out of 147 countries, a decline from its 15th-place ranking in 2023 and its highest ranking of 11th place in 2012. The low score can be attributed by the unhappiness of people under the age of 30. While the U.S. was 24th overall, for people aged 20-30, we were...
