Archive for 2023

On the eve of a new year, I am reminded of something a student once told me about celebrating New Year’s Eve at home with his family: “Boy, was my mother emotionally drunk last night.” “What does ’emotionally drunk’ mean?” I asked, though a part of me didn’t want to know. “That’s what happens when…

Sometimes, the universe does you a solid. On Thursday evening, I took Charlie to his very first Celtics game at the Garden. The Celtics were playing the Pistons, which promised to be a lopsided affair: The Celtics have the best record in the NBA at 25-6. The Pistons have the worst record in the NBA…

Over the years, my students have built me Lego scenes from Shakespearean stories that we read. Hamlet. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Romeo and Juliet. Most recently, a scene from Macbeth. The final scene of the play, when Macbeth’s severed head is placed upon a spike. Kids love a severed head.  

One of my goals for 2023 was to write to six authors whom I adore. I finally got around to it in November. I expected nothing in return. I simply wanted to express my appreciation for the joy they had brought to my life like so many readers have done for me. I was paying…

My children are physically incapable of speaking when we watch movies at home. It’s incredibly annoying. Frustrating and awful. Thankfully, they don’t speak in actual movie theaters because they aren’t monsters. The exception, of course, was Taylor Swift’s recent concert film. Clara, Elysha, and I went to this movie, and talking, dancing, and general frivolity…

Behold! Photos of our children with Santa Claus over the years! After having photos taken with Santa in 2009 and 2010, we skipped the annual mall photo in 2011 for the reasons described below. We also seem to have lost the 2018 photo. The final mall photo, taken in 2019, does not have a date…

Every Christmas, I take inventory of the holiday gifts that my wife, Elysha, gives me. Some people wish for cashmere sweaters, the latest gadget, stylish watches, and jewelry. My hope is often for the least pretentious, most unexpected, most nostalgic, quirkiest, most utilitarian little gifts possible, and Elysha never fails to deliver. When it comes…

If you’re celebrating Christmas this year, happy Christmas Eve! I hope that today is relaxing, lovely, fun, and filled with joy and anticipation. Elysha and I spent the day cooking, cleaning, and wrapping gifts in preparation for our annual “Dicks Family Christmas Misfit Open House” tomorrow! I also squeezed in a golf lesson because I…

Even though Charlie’s feet were quite cold last week while touring the Winter Wonderland at Southwick Zoo – Crocs with no socks will do that in December – fear not, dear friends. Elysha, the kids, and I still had great fun. Some of my more empathetic friends and readers wrote to ask if our winter…

Liz Cheney appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week. It was an odd pairing, given that Colbert has spent decades making fun of her and her father, which he acknowledged during the interview. Cheney handled the moment with humor and grace, but she did something even more impressive during the interview. At…