Fiction, Writing, Articles, Essays, Reviews.
We’ve all pressed the reset button to restart a device or system that is unresponsive or malfunctioning. It’s a go-to fix for a multitude of issues. I’ve gotten better at resetting myself when I start to malfunction. When anxious or emotionally drained or feeling lost, I’ve learned to pause, step back, and intentionally return to a clearer, more balanced version of myself, more prepared to handle...
After she leaves for work, I change into running gear and strap my watch on. Some days I run randomly around the neighborhood, up and down blocks of neatly arranged houses, skimpy lawns covered with frosted leaves that never got raked, streets lined with parked cars. Other days I run down to the river, the current gray or blue depending on the sky, along the break wall as far as the rowing club...
In this dark moment in our country’s history, stained by a corrupt administration that lies to, threatens, extorts, and punishes its own people, that cleaves divisions among us, that celebrates bigotry and cruelty, that instead of serving people it cuts services to people in need—within this anxious moment, there is still sublimebeauty, there is October. Is the difference only that one is human...
We actually did it: The Delmar Dads three-person movie group attended a film for 12 consecutive months to support the independent Spectrum Theater. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. On two occasions, one of us (me) had to seek special dispensation from club officers to move the night from the second Wednesday of the month to the second Tuesday. In addition, one of us (not me), didn’t attend the July...
A police cruiser pulled up and stopped at our corner today. My heart began to race. I wondered if I should run out the back door and jump the fence and disappear into the ravine. I thought maybe the police officer had come to arrest me. That’s because I’m against fascism, and the authoritarian fascist president of our country just declared Antifa (short for anti-fascist) a “Domestic Terrorist...
I was talking with a friend of my own vintage, who said all of the big decisions in life are over for us. He was referring to the decisions we make as we lift the anchor on our childhoods and begin charting our course as adults. We made our decision about education years ago—whether to attend college and what to study. We’ve chosen career paths (we’re both writers). We’ve decided who to marry...
Tanya: A soccer player on the fields adjacent to the tennis club reached out to me through the website and said that last week he kicked a ball that went over the fence onto the courts during a time when the club was closed and the gates were locked. I heard you might have been involved. Me: Yes, the other day I found a neon yellow soccer ball inside our fence, and so the next evening when we...
For most of my life I’ve had only a few friends. Now I have added to that roster. Not that I’ve become more social (I’ve become less, if you can imagine that), but I’ve expanded my definition of friendship. I have local friends who help me feel anchored to my community. Historical friends that have been deeply entwined in the fabric of my life for decades. Writer friends who understand that...
Today was the first day in a while I’ve gone out to tend the gardens and property. I realized how behind I was. I pulled out and pruned. I trimmed and cut. I got covered in milkweed milk. I arranged rocks. Watered. Fixed a fence. Dumped wheelbarrows of organic debris over the ravine. Turned the compost pile. Sometimes I do all that work and forget to pay attention to the beauty surrounding...
The Movie Club went throwback this month and we saw Jaws, the iconic thriller/suspense blockbuster celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. I’m extremely familiar with Jaws. I happen to live with someone who has said Jaws is her favorite movie, and she went to see it numerous times in the summer of 1975 when it premiered. Since then, we’ve seen the film, or parts of it, many times. So there...
Do you ever wonder how often you think of the ones you love the most? Certainly, anyone you’re living with—a partner, a child, a parent, a friend—you think of every day, at least once a day, because they’re right in front of you as a reminder. What about the parent or friend who died months or years ago? The old friends who promised to stay in touch? Or the person you were once romantically...
I’ve been enjoying the highly structured form of poetry called the Villanelle. Here’s a new entry. You can also read Villanelle #1 and Villanelle #2. My desire is to plant one more treeAn oak or maple that adds a ring each yearThough under its shade I will never be For my children and theirs I bequest tenderlyA vibrant magnolia or dogwood souvenirMy desire is to plant one more tree...
I planted two hazelnut saplings. You need at least two for pollination purposes. It takes 3-4 years to begin bearing fruit. Each season, I prune and shape them. One tree grows steadily; one lags. I risk digging up and moving the struggling tree to a location with better light. I water it every day. It survives the shock of transplantation. I protect the trees with cages. And this year, their...
We’re halfway through the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the fireworks are popping. I’m not referring to blistering service aces or smashing overheads or 20-shot rallies punctuated by down-the-line winners. I’m referring to post-match confrontations between players. Tennis has an annoying and prissy culture of “tennis etiquette” consisting of a number of “unwritten rules.” They’re unwritten...
We could solve many environmental and climate change problems if only the promise of teleportation had come true. I first saw beam-me-up magic on the original Star Trek series: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and crew standing in the transporter room, their figures dissolving into glittery confetti and then reanimating on one of the strange new worlds they’re exploring. If we had teleportation...
Tee time is 10:00 AM. Jim gives me a tour of the set of clubs (good ones) borrowed from Pico. How to hold the club. Proper stance. How to swing. I also have the advantage of having watched a three-minute YouTube video for beginners on how to swing a golf club: heart high, arms to the side. Pico and Fernando are experienced golfers, and their skills show right away. They both drive long, high...
After a blip last month in which one of us missed, the Delmar Dads Movie Club was back last night with a full roster of our three founding members. It was Paul’s turn to choose, and this guy is on a winning streak. We saw Weapons, the kind of horror/mystery/thriller type film I would never choose, but am glad that he did. Weapons has one of those far-out concepts: what happens to a community when...
My mom, Irene Klein, died more than 40 years ago when she was 58 and I was 24. I was still largely undeveloped as an adult, and losing my mother was a huge blow. I drifted rudderless and without purpose for some years after. I’ve always wondered what my life would have been like if she’d been around to continue loving me and guiding me. Then when I was 35, in marrying Harriet, I gained a mother...
I forgot to include a story in the newsletter I write for the tennis club. I forgot we were going to tell the kids about the Richardsons. I forgot to get my car inspected because when I looked at the sticker it was three months overdue. Harriet reminded me we were going to tell the kids about the Richardsons. I went to the hardware store, the grocery store, and the library, and I remembered my...
It’s not often I finish a book and experience a welling of tears and realize I’ve just read a great work of American literature. But John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath just did it to me. I think I read the novel in high school, although I remember nothing of it. I came into it this time fresh and without opinion. And the Joad family and their journey of survival blew me away. Tenant farmers in...
