Carol’s eldest daughter sat down next to me at a recent family dinner, where I’d been maintaining both a stoic and blissful silence. “I know you don’t like conversation, but I understand your next trip is to Portugal.” Now when most people are quizzed about an upcoming European adventure, there is generally an expectation you’ll […]

   Sally Hemings tiptoed into her master’s study, but was surprised to find Thomas Jefferson fully awake. “I’m sorry, master, I thought you’d be asleep at this hour. I’m very sorry I woke you.”    Jefferson shot up straight. “I am not woke!”    “But you are awake.”    “Yes, Sally, I’ve been awake all night.”    “Troubled, master? Is […]

   I have a new superhero. His name is Otto. As Otto makes clear in the eponymous movie starring Tom Hanks, he is more non-social, rather than anti-social. (He affirms that for me in the scene with the UPS driver, where Otto emphasizes his animosity to the “brown trucks” has nothing to do with race.) […]

From the South Bay to the Valley From the West Side to the East Side Everybody’s very happy ‘Cause the sun is shining all the time Looks like another perfect day I love L.A. (we love it)               – Randy Newman                    From our room on the 18th floor of the Loews Hotel, just down from the […]

   I’ll admit it right up front: I’m flummoxed by Christmas, especially the gifting part. I have three granddaughters, and I swear there are times when I think I can buy each of them a box of cigars and they’d all be happy. The oldest is 11, yet I imagine the three of us lighting up […]

Hanukkah celebrates a miracle. When the Maccabees defeated their Syrian overlords and reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem 200 years before the birth of Christ, the victors lit a lamp they thought had only enough oil to light for a day. Well, it burned for eight and both a miracle and tradition were born. Figure the […]

   As I’ve already suggested, Carol’s family is close – intimate really. So when her daughter April called one morning asking, “Can you come over and smell my son’s wash,” even that didn’t strike me as inordinately “close” for this brood. I thought, sure, there are no skeletons in this family’s closet that have to be […]

   Then there are the family Thanksgivings that don’t even try to be special. They just naturally are. The Madigans Thanksgiving is in that category.    All I ever wanted from my own family’s Thanksgiving traditions was a TV tray table, a football game and getting through dinner without anyone hurling a combination of threats or fists […]

   I grew up believing the MLK maxim that the arc of the universe bends toward justice. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, though, I had another thought. The arc of the universe is actually a sine wave, not an arc. It oscillates back and forth, not bending to anywhere. It might be better in the […]

   And no, this is not some sinister reference to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Nor is it an attempt to measure our marriage using the metric system. But earlier this week, Carol and I celebrated our 1000th day anniversary. How do I know this, and why am I choosing to measure my marriage in days […]