Archive for November, 2006

Yeah I got busted

Yes, that’s right. Exam over. Fawcett’s back y’all. So I got arrested again. It happens now and then. It’s a strange thing getting arrested. Here is how the most recent one occurred: My lady and I are having dinner. A hole-in-the-wall sushi restaurant in Soho that a friend recommended. It’s delicious. We’ve each had a […]

Girls gone mild

William Burroughs once commented that the Paul Bowles autobiography Without Stopping should really have been entitled Without Telling. I am sure that I was not the only one in the live studio audience of The Bachelor: Rome – The Women Tell All to have been thinking about this and looked forward to asking the ten […]

Junk

A couple of weeks ago a friend sent me a link to this YouTube video, with a note: “This reminded me of you. Or your dad I guess.” If you don’t want to watch it (it’s the usual Kids in the Hall goofiness), here’s a synopsis: Having quit his job as a lawyer, Dave Foley […]

My friend the spy, Part IV

My Friend the Spy is a Great Whatsit serial. It is a true story (save for the author’s pseudonym), told in weekly installations. Part I. Part II. Part III. From the previous episode: “Oh! That reminds me!” he said. “There’s another writer that’s coming to talk to me on Wednesday. Another writer – imagine that! […]

Thanksgiving: A manifesto, a menu, and a recipe for mincemeat

For me, being in control of Thanksgiving is synonymous with adulthood. To some degree, my family of origin determined this association. The young’uns sat at the kids’ table in the other room until deemed old enough (or enough of your aunts and uncles hadn’t shown up at your grandmother’s house) that you were invited to […]

Thanksgiving blues

I assumed the movie theater would be crowded. High noon on Thanksgiving Day–wouldn’t there be people of all ages and genders told to get out of someone’s hair and go see a movie for heaven’s sake? But the multiplex was deserted. We found seats in the middle of the middle, with an older couple above and […]

Dealing with divorce: a child’s guide

If your parents are divorced or in the process of getting a divorce, you may be concerned with the effects this might have on you. And you should be. Studies show that children of divorce have considerably greater risk of experiencing, uhh … “psychological issues” compared with children who live in a stable two-parent environment. […]

The leaves keep turning

As this is being posted, Stella and I are on a flight down to North Carolina for the funeral of my grandmother, who I wrote about back in May. At that time, she’d suffered the first real bout of ill health in her 92 years of life, and had been moved into an assisted living […]

Movin’ on up

Sunday morning, for the last time, I swept the faux parquet floors of the apartment we’ve lived in for the last five years: Our apartment was on the 7th floor — the one where the building has a bit of a setback on both sides, creating terraces. Our terrace was the one to the right. […]

Pleasurable things

Inspired by Sei Shonagon, I offered Stella’s list of disappointing things a couple of weeks ago. I am now happy to share a small list of pleasurable things. In a well-appointed restaurant, there is no greater pleasure than unfolding a white linen napkin and feeling its stiffness and weight, which conveys the importance of the […]