Archive for December, 2008

I Wish I Had A River

She wears diapers. She eats with her fingers, and wears a bib. When prompted she will use a fork or a spoon, but often the food ends up on her clothes or the floor. She’s mostly non-verbal. She can’t walk, although with assistance she can take a few steps. She spends most days sitting in […]

All in

Back when I lived in Washington, Stella and I used to join a few friends for poker evenings. We’d get a bottle of scotch, a pack of cards and some poker chips, and spend a couple of hours chatting and playing Texas Hold ‘em. These evenings were usually more about conversation than about serious cards, […]

Crack House Diary Entry: College Application

This is only a Crackhouse Diary entry in the sense that Susan and I would have never known the author of the following college admission essay had Susan not chosen to teach in a South Central high school.  The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, approached Susan for help with her application process.  Susan brought […]

Obamallelujah

Staying in town or getting out? Hosting family or friends? Renting out your home for $500 per night? Are you going to a ball?  Official or not? Can you get tickets?  To the swearing in? Do you know people with offices on Pennsylvania Avenue?  Can they get you in? (But not on the roof — […]

Thursday favorites: Rankin and Bass animation

When I was a kid, I didn’t care if television made us violent or contributed to bad grades or meant we had neglectful parents. I loved watching television. Television was what we did: after school, before bed, late on Friday night and two thirds of the day on Saturday. If we wanted to watch something, […]

1994. Paris. 11th Arrondissement. Hotel de Belfort. Part 2.

The next time I would see Mimi was the morning after I got locked in at Pére Lachaise cemetery. I entered just minutes before the guards made their rounds, locking thick chains through the wrought iron gates. I scurried around the cemetery, running up the middle past the tombstones, purposely trying to get lost. I […]

The finer things

I’m beginning to understand that one of the benefits of being in a relationship is learning a whole new set of consumer skills. It is no doubt my relative paucity of relationships that has left me unaware of many of the finer things in life. Like Whole Foods. WF became a phenomenon when I was […]

I want my . . . I want my FMUUUUUU!!!!!

HEY! So this weekend walking around New York’s most glamourous art/industrial neighborhood I ran into one of WFMU’s truly great DJ’s, Trouble. She alerted me to a really cool event, the WFMU first ever benefit sale of limited edition multiples at Printed Matter. Being in New York on the first Saturday of December is so […]

December diversions 2008

December is a tough month. Whatever your holiday or celebratory inclinations, stress begins to swirl like a snowstorm from the last bowl of turkey soup to the first fizz of New Year’s champagne. Every day seems a race to the end of the month, rushing from one paid day off work to the next with a checklist of extra […]

Thursday favorites: BOOM goes public

So we, Born out of Moonshine, played our show a few weeks ago at Monkey Town. Packed the house, and the band we were opening for (The Betters and the Best) decided to go first so their keyborad player could get to another gig, so we ended up headlining. People from a lot of different […]