Suprise Me

Maybe Mother’s Day is the time to share the message my mother left on my phone with my children and grandchildren. I’m proud of you for just being who you are, and I love you unconditionally. Read More

As the story goes, the property on Valencia Street was zoned for retail. But the new tenants wanted to open a tutoring center. Naturally, the solution was to start stocking up on pirate stuff. The Pirate Supply Store at 826 Valencia is really a front for a place where kids in San Francisco can get… Read More

I hate November and I hate low-sodium lentil soup. And I wanted a goddamn drink. Is that so awful? Read More

In 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to his school bus stop in Lower Manhattan. Read More

Our crowning…glory? What teen/young adult/ more mature adult/even more mature adult hasn’t graded a day by whether it’s a Good Hair Day or a Bad Hair Day? Said grade has a significant effect on willingness to leave the house. How many untold hours have been spent attempting to coerce the dread BHD into a GHD? Taken cumulatively, this… Read More

I think we could write this retro Retro piece in synchronous serendipity, so I won’t dwell on a nostalgic past. But Retrospect fills an enormous need and has created a deep and profound community where none had existed before. The timing could not have been better. I joined Retrospect on the eve of the 2016… Read More

Last year I learned that the DMV will suspend your license if you receive a diagnosis of dementia. You get a letter and are offered the chance to appeal their decision. Doctors are required by law to notify the DMV once the diagnosis is made, and so the letter may come as a surprise, depending… Read More

It was quite a job putting the bed frame together, although I don't remember whether it required any trips to the hardware store. Read More

Most rewatchable movie ever: Casablanca. Close second: almost any movie starring Audrey Hepburn. Read More

Maybe my mother did not have the shopping gene or never shook off the Depression and Protestant ethos, but she seems to have passed that shopping ambivalence on to me. Read More