For a few nerdy weeks between my junior and senior years of high school, I attended a Latin camp at Kansas University. I probably learned some Latin, but the big draw was being on a university campus several hours from home, surrounded by other nerdy kids. In other words, it was a trial run at … Read More
“What did you do on your summer vacation?” It’s a reliable, if predictable, essay topic to assign when you want to get to know a batch of new high school kids. But in all my many years of teaching English, I never assigned it. Here’s why. In her first week of her first year of … Read More
We retired people don’t need vacations for rest, the way we used to when we worked full-time. But most of us still crave the chance to change things up: to change the pace, change the place, and spend some time recharging. We need to vary things a little. I know I do. The Italians call … Read More
The other day, when a friend and I were chatting about the catastrophic heat wave out west, the talk turned naturally to more general environmental concerns. She’s a scientist and loves the ocean. “I’ve been thinking for years,” she said, frowning, “that I should avoid single-use plastics. So many of them are getting dumped in … Read More
I grew up in a rise-and-shine household. The coffee (on a timer) started percolating just before 6:00 a.m., when alarm clocks buzzed in everyone’s bedrooms. My parents, my younger brother, and I rolled out of bed every morning to the delicious aroma of fresh coffee brewing. Years before I ever drank it, I associated its … Read More
When I told people last spring I was teaching a class on some postmodernist novels, a few shot me puzzled glances. Maybe they were wondering why anyone on earth would do that, but the questions they actually asked out loud were two: 1) What were we reading in the class? 2) What the heck is … Read More
The late, great Ruth Bader Ginsburg reported that, just before her wedding, her mother gave her some amusing advice for marriage: “Sometimes it helps to be a little deaf.” (She added it was also excellent advice for dealing with colleagues.) I thought of that story last year when I got asked by StoryWorth about relationship … Read More
“Only connect”—that’s as much as many of us remember about E. M. Forster. (It’s true even for those like me, who read his novels in my twenties with real pleasure.) By itself, the phrase sounds trite and way too earnest, in the gag-producing vein of Richard Bach’s “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” … Read More
My step-daughter has spent this week moving into her first house. During the process of unpacking, she’s sent us pictures of the little islands of order she’s created, each one surrounded by a flotilla of boxes. Her experience has made me think of the whole process of making a house into a home: shoving the … Read More
Yesterday I cried about Nova Scotia. Or rather, I cried about the very real prospect that this summer, like last summer, we won’t be allowed in to Nova Scotia. At this time of year, I would usually be humming a happy song while I plan the move to our cottage up there—which is not just … Read More