Archive for November 2020

Leonard Woolf, husband of novelist Virginia Woolf, wrote in his autobiography of this moment prior to the onset of World War II: One of the most horrible things at that time was to listen on the wireless to the speeches of Hitler — the savage and insane ravings of a vindictive underdog who suddenly saw…

Since when did sweet potatoes become a dessert item rather than a vegetable? It seems as if one cannot make sweet potatoes anymore without topping them off with a one-inch layer of marshmallows and brown sugar. Isn’t the only vegetable named for its sweetness already sweet enough? And am I actually expected to look upon…

As Thanksgiving approaches, I have a heavy heart, knowing we will not see our loved ones this holiday season. To continue to see our loved ones for many holiday seasons to come, and unable to effectively quarantine since Elysha and I spend entire days in rooms filled with 15-20 other human beings, we will be…

A Maryland businessman Jie “Jack” Zhao paid Harvard University’s former fencing coach at least $1.5 million in bribes, including payments for a car and a house in the suburbs, to get his sons admitted to the Ivy League school, federal prosecutors said in a criminal complaint released Monday. This is just another case in the ongoing…

Look! I wrote a new poem. The names and specificity of the incidents have been altered to respect the privacy of my students, but the general sentiment is accurate. Annoying Children Sitting under a yellow maple, reading a poem about whales by Billy Collins except I’m not reading a poem about whales by Billy Collins…

Netflix got stuck on a menu screen yesterday. Elysha called for help. I fixed it in seconds.  Felt damn good doing it. Matthew Dicks, fixing problems. Solving conundrums. Saving the day. Later that same day, the dishwasher broke. Elysha called several appliance repair companies, somehow got a technician on the phone on a Saturday night,…

As you may know, I maintain an “I told you so” calendar. It’s a Google Calendar dedicated to the idea that people love to make makes claims about the future or tell you that your predictions of the future are ridiculous because there is almost no accountability for these statements when the future finally arrives.…

Halloween was slightly muted for our family this year. Thanks to the kindness of our neighbors and Elysha’s pre-Halloween reconnaissance, the kids still went trick-or-treating, but we limited the event to our street and only to the neighbors who planned for socially distant candy distribution. In the end, the kids dressed up. They walked around…

In the film The Shawshank Redemption, protagonist Andy Dufresne wears the warden’s shoes during his escape from the prison, walking right by guards and inmates with the shiny, black dress shoes on his feet. Quite a departure from his brown work boots. In explaining Dufresne’s ability to wear these shoes past so many people without notice,…

I wish I knew who created this graphic so I could give them the credit they deserve. It’s excellent. Also very much needed. Another 136,325 Covid-19 cases and 1,420 virus-related deaths were reported in the United States on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. Also, the number of people with Covid-19 at US hospitals for…