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Why I cry when looking at old photographs like this.

This is a photo of A.A. Milne, the author of the Winnie the Pooh stories, along with his son, Christopher Robin Milne, and the stuffed bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh.  A.A. Milne died in 1956. Christopher Robin Milne died in 1996. The stuffed bear, which was given to Christopher Robin in 1920 before his…

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If you forbid jeans at your place of business, you’re not thinking straight. You might even be a coward.

Although there is no formal dress code at the school where I teach, staff members are allowed to make a $1 charitable contribution on Fridays in order to wear jeans. Having no explicit dress code, I’m fairly certain that if I wanted to wear jeans every day, I could, but I’m not ready to rock…

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I went to the bathroom alongside a bunch of ladies, and something surprising happened.

I competed last night at a Moth StorySLAM at The Oberon in Cambridge, MA.  The Oberon has two restrooms. When I started performing there in 2013, these restrooms were identified by placards as “Men” and “Women.” About a year ago, the “Men” and “Women” placards were replaced with placards that read “All Gender.” Since then,…

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The perils of the road

This is what happens when you spend the weekend performing in Illinois: You miss a dance party that was apparently held in your own home.

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My problem with honorifics

I’m not a fan of titles, which is a nice way of saying that I really, really hate titles.  Let me explain.  I have several good friends who have earned doctorates in a variety of fields. Some are actual medical doctors. If a person is having a heart attack on an airplane and the flight…

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Driving in cars (and planes) with complete strangers

Yesterday morning, in the midst of the snowstorm, I drove past a woman walking in the road. She had an umbrella braced ahead of her and a CVS bag in her hand. I pulled over and offered a ride. She was wary at first, but I assured her that lunatic killers don’t go out in…

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Gas stations suck (at least in this regard)

Can we all acknowledge that placing the gasoline octane choices in reverse numerical order on gas pumps is done with the sole purpose of causing people who might be distracted to accidentally choose a higher octane than intended? Not exactly a fair business practice if you ask me. 

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The three worst things ever

Sometimes characters in my books speak words and think things that I would never speak or think myself.  Other times characters say words and think things that are directly from my heart and soul. In these cases, these characters are speaking on my behalf.   In Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Budo lists the three things…

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My favorite sentence of the year

Earlier in the month, a friend of mine took some advice about living life well, and as expected, it worked out perfectly. In telling me how well things turned out, she wrote this sentence: “It’s annoying how right you always are.” I don’t usually identify my favorite sentence from a given year, but if I…

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