July 25, 2024

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with movies and movie reviewers. I watched Siskel & Ebert on PBS and read the work of critic Jeff…

June 4, 2024

When you’re a child, your summer is filled with activities that are a pure expression of your joy to be alive. When you’re an adult, your summer is…

January 30, 2024

I am reading Jennifer McCartney’s book, “The Joy of Leaving Your (Expletive) All Over the Place: The Art of Being Messy.” It is a humor book, as McCartney…

January 30, 2024

January sucks. Not the January issue of the magazine, which is excellent. But the month itself. And it is not even January’s fault. Toward the end of December, you…

August 22, 2023

After a month on a diet and fitness regimen that had always worked for me in the past, I was weighed at the doctor’s office. I’d gained weight. I had also…

January 23, 2023

I get the winter blues. Aka, Seasonal Affective Disorder. Aka, the Siberian Snippernips, Aka, the Hyperboreal Hooblats. Aka, the Antarctic Scrattles. Those last three…

November 2, 2022

“I may not know art, but I know what I like.” For most of my life, this idiom didn’t bother me at all. I assumed that I agreed with…

September 30, 2022

Ah, autumn. It starts September 22. Autumn is the time when you hear chestnuts, acorns and dried leaves crunching underfoot. It is also the time when gingko…

June 8, 2022

I recently congratulated a friend on two years of sobriety. “Dropping the bottle was the easy part,” she said. “Facing down all the crap that made me…

March 29, 2022

I love food and dining in restaurants, but I don’t think I am a foodie. For one thing, I am still a little suspicious of the…