Archive for February 2013
Football is better than fashion, even if both are inane.
On Sunday night, my wife turned on the television half an hour before the Academy Awards were to begin to watch the fashion on the red carpet. Less than two minutes later she turned it off. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “It’s just so stupid,” she said. I love her so much. On Monday morning I…
Read MoreWife and daughter are capable of even making The Moth better.
As much as I love The Moth, the drive into the city immediately after work is never easy for me. I don’t get a chance to see my family, and I often arrive back home well after midnight, when everyone is deep in sleep. It’s also not easy for my wife, who spends the entire…
Read MoreWhen do I write? In the cracks between my toddler’s poops and my wife’s contractions.
Two years ago, I spoke at a nursing home about my most recent novel. I take any gig that I can get. In a sparsely furnished basement room, standing in front of a 78-inch television, I read a little bit from my book, told a few stories, described my writing process and watched as the…
Read MoreDicks serves a purpose
My last name has not always been the easiest thing to live with. It’s resulted in teasing, the occasional crass joke and even a smattering of confusion when people over the phone ask me to repeat my last name two or three times, seeming unable to believe it each time. It’s even necessitated the use…
Read MoreThere are no easy answers when it comes to video games and violence. Nor is the research on the issue settled.
Do violent video games result in an increased level of violence among young people? It’s easy to say yes. It seems to make sense. It allows us to direct our efforts at a specific source. But consider research reported in the New York Times: The proliferation of violent video games has not coincided with spikes…
Read MoreBaby talk
He’s not talking yet, but this might be better than actual words.
Read MoreThe twenty-first century is such a tough time to be alive.
A piece by Drake Baer in Fast Company entitled Slacking At Work Is A Controversial Productivity Tool–So Is There A Better Way? opens with this sentence: More and more of us find ourselves unable to juggle overwhelming demands and maintain a seemingly unsustainable pace,” Tony Schwartz recently wrote in The New York Times. “Overwhelming demands.”…
Read MoreWhat motivates me?
Spite A desire to impress my wife (and before that, the desire to impress girls) The fear of poverty The need to create something that will last beyond my lifetime The personal satisfaction that comes with success But mostly it’s spite and the desire to impress my wife.
Read MoreGovernment with a splash of humor
The Illinois board of tourism created this video in honor of Abraham Lincoln and the attention he will be receiving at the Academy Awards this evening as a result of the Spielberg film. It’s a bizarre film by any standards but even more so considering it comes from a governmental agency responsible for bringing tourists…
Read MoreA easy-to-implement, nearly-free, must-steal idea for libraries and bookstores everywhere: Blind Date with a Book
On Thursday I had the honor of speaking to a large and enthusiastic audience at the Townsend Public Library in Townsend, Massachusetts. MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND was chosen for their annual One Book One Town event, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled. I spent the first hour talking about the craft and business…
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