A young cousin Helen paid me a supreme compliment this past January as I laid…
As 2024 Becomes 2025
First Night in Boston is a venerable event. Forty years ago, I was never motivated to brave the cold—it was always very cold. The temperatures, however, were mild this year and the ice sculptures—one of the most popular traditions—weren’t going to keep their...
Christmas Letter 2024
A new home, a new address, a new life. New Roommate Ping. She arrived at the Costco parking lot in Newington CT from Texas, late at night on August 23. The cheek swab says she is 67.3% Shih Tzu, 19.5% Lhasa Apso, and 13.2% small Poodle. A “shapsoodle.” I named her for...
Paul Caponigro 1932-2024
Obituaries mark with increasing insistence the evanescence of my own memories. A notice reminds me of this musician or that scholar or politician or athlete. On Friday, November 29, 2024, the day after Thanksgiving, it was the loss of the great photographer, Paul...
Changing Lives 11: Between Baltimore And Boston
It was there on Sumner Street, just a couple short blocks from my home. A fine old steamer trunk that may have been new around 1930. I hadn’t noticed it when I headed out. Who knows in which house it had been stored, in which deep closet or dusty attic. My Godmother...