Archive for February 2022

After a Tennessee school board banned a graphic novel about the Holocaust from local middle schools, comic book store owners from near and far pledged to send students the book for free. The Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” was banned on January 10 after a vote by the McMinn County Board of Education. Written by Art…

My birthday recently passed by. Another trip around the sun. Amongst the lovely gifts that I received, Elysha arranged for me to spend time in a single engine plane over the city of Hartford. Over the past two years, aviation has become an interest of mine, and though I have no desire to ever fly…

One of my clients said that my “just because I don’t want to“ lack of drinking alcohol and “never in my life” drug use stresses her out. “Even when we’re not working together, I’m still stressed about it,” she said. “No alcohol? No weed? In the middle of a pandemic? Or ever? What the hell…

Thoughts from my recent trip with friends to Bermuda: __________________________________________ Vacationing with friends was something I did a great deal when I was younger, but it’s been a long time since I traveled on vacation with just friends. Someone told me before I left that being away from Elysha and the kids would give me…

You meet your 18 year-old self. You’re allowed to say 3 words. What do you say? There are many excellent choices to this question. “Buy Apple stock” or “Buy Amazon stock” make a lot of sense. Warnings like “Don’t marry Walter” or “Beware Francine McGuffin” or “Avoid fish tacos” might also make sense, depending on…

I first learned to drive using an automatic transmission. But shortly after getting my license, a girlfriend taught me to drive a manual transmission, and I loved it. I found that it afforded me considerably more control of the car and made driving a far more active experience. Also, it was priceless in a snowstorm.…

I have a loyalty card form Dick’s Sporting Goods, called a Score Card, but I never use the physical card when making purchases. I don’t even carry it with me. Instead, I tell the cashier that I have a card, but it’s attached to my other ring of keys. I do this because of the…

When I was 22 years old, I was dating a girl named Christine. She and I worked at McDonald’s restaurants on opposite sides of Brockton, Massachusetts. Christine was a college student working nights to earn extra money. I was working at South Shore Bank during the day and managing the restaurant at night while awaiting…

Clara’s school assignment was to write a food recipe, and if possible, make the food. She chose braided challah. I told Clara that if I had been given the assignment, I would’ve opted for canned cranberry sauce. Or a bottle of Diet Coke. Maybe a lollipop. I would’ve subverted the teacher’s expectations. Zigged when others…

Just for the record, I agree with Ed Yong of The Atlantic in his piece: It’s a Terrible Idea to Deny Medical Care to Unvaccinated People Refusing medical treatment to unvaccinated Americans suffering from COVID-19 would be inhumane. Inhumane even though the vast majority of Americans currently hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Inhumane even though…