I don’t own a pet, but my roommate has a cat who pesters me when I’m home and a coworker has a chocolate Lab who pesters me when I’m at work. It’s now to the point where any smallish, annoying thing, including a child, gets marked in my mind with the dog’s name. We’ll call [...]
Cue Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died.”
It began on my way to the bus, with a phone call from my oldest, dearest friend, Meghan, who, through static interference and intermittent service, told me that our friend Q had died. For some reason I continually misunderstood her – I kept asking “who?” – for some [...]
To be an amateur in the U.S. is to be second rate. The reasoning goes that if one were a better writer, musician, or painter, a career in the arts would necessarily be in order. The professional is lauded – is taken seriously.
Things, however, weren’t always this way. Until the mid-to-late 19th [...]
1. My dear friend’s brother is 43; he’s in a happily rewarding second marriage and his kids are 5, 3, and newborn. Despite this brand-new sprouting family, though, he strongly feels his primary duty is to serve in the war, so he’s decided to enlist. His particular assignment, which is slated to last [...]
I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept of “fare bella figura.” It literally means “to make a beautiful figure,” but most people would translate it as “a good impression.” Truthfully, it’s a little of both—and it’s singularly Italian.
In order to possess a bella figura, you must look put-together. [...]