Thursday, June 4, 2026
“I guess I don’t subscribe to the twee school. I remember trying to lose our copy of Thomas the Tank Engine before I had to read it again. Life is a more dimensional and interesting… Read More
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
What kind of person was David Feder? I learned a story this morning, when I was watching the recording of his funeral, which was held Tuesday in St. John’s. When he was recovering from one… Read More
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
“Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves.”— Carl Sagan Carl Sagan uttered these words in the groundbreaking TV series Cosmos, which aired on PBS in the fall of 1980. Sagan’s documentaries, and… Read More
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Here’s a story about a gift that left me speechless. Well, for a good few moments. Years ago, I had a wonderful scarf — until I no longer did. It was long, warm, striped and… Read More
Saturday, May 30, 2026
It might seem unusual, but I’ve been leaning into the main rule of improvisational comedy as a way of helping my mom, especially in moments when her Alzheimer’s disease is posing a challenge. A few… Read More
Friday, May 29, 2026
“I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not. And the government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever. The leader… Read More
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
“For better or worse, it is the commentator who has the last word.”— Vladimir Nabokov This observation from Vladimir Nabokov is spoken by one of the Russian-American novelist’s characters, and not a nice one, either…. Read More
Monday, May 25, 2026
“One should never trespass on kindness. Human kindness is like a defective tap: the first gush may be impressive, but the stream soon dries up.” — P.D. James I had come across a truncated version… Read More
Sunday, May 24, 2026
“I hate it when actors use the word ‘journey.’ That’s not a f–king journey, winning a Spirit Award. Escaping from Ukraine is.” — John Waters I’ve been a fan of John Waters and his trashy-chic… Read More
Friday, May 22, 2026
“The other creatures with which we share this world have their rights too, but not speaking our language, they have no voice, no vote; it is our moral duty to take care of them.”— Roger… Read More
Thursday, May 21, 2026
“Never apologize, never explain — didn’t we always say that? Well, I haven’t and I don’t.”— Marianne Faithfull Those words appear in the first of Marianne Faithfull’s memoirs, Faithfull: An Autobiography, which was published in… Read More
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Language can get in the way when you travel to another country, and that apparently can involve some Americans who would prefer to speak English their own way, thank you very much. We were at… Read More
Sunday, May 17, 2026
“As we all understand, you can take a man’s show, you can’t take a man’s voice.” — David Letterman I expect to see a lot of Stephen Colbert in the headlines this week, as the… Read More
Saturday, May 9, 2026
We had planned to spend the day in one of the masterpieces created by the Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudí, and wound up in another. It was a real lemonade-out-of-lemons experience, and it included one of… Read More
Friday, May 8, 2026
Montserrat is many things: a mountain, a monastery, a municipality, a park. It’s one of the most stunning places I’ve ever seen. Martha and I caught a bus from Barcelona on Wednesday morning, making a… Read More