August 5th, 2022 | Family, Genealogy, General, Health, Memory
Sometimes a book seems like it was written just for you. A review of Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family (2020) by Robert Kolker caught my eye. Perhaps it was in The New York Times, maybe The New Yorker magazine. The book seemed like something my...
August 3rd, 2022 | Family, Genealogy, General, Memory, Time Passes
Kate contacted me out of the blue. Her email said, I have just been given an old box with a label on the top with “Laura A. Wavle, 11 Story Street, Cambridge, Mass”. I’m wondering if you have anymore information about her and whether she lived her life in MA, or did...
June 24th, 2022 | Family, General, Politics, Society at Large, Women
On November 10, 2016 the news announced that Donald Trump would be the 45th president of the United States. I lay in bed howling, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…” My Dear One tried to comfort me, saying that it would be all right. I knew it wouldn’t be all right. Today was...
June 17th, 2022 | Education, Family, General, Politics, Popular Culture
What are these people getting worked up about? Film and Television in the 20th Century The ten “Madea” movies made since 2005 have earned buckets of money for Tyler Perry. Somebody has been watching them. For “The Nutty Profession” (1996), Eddie Murphy most of...
May 20th, 2022 | Family, General, Health, Home Improvements
It once seemed inconceivable that we—or anyone–would operate a dialysis center in a spare bedroom. If a medical treatment must consume most of your attention and half your week, then bringing it home makes a certain amount of sense. When the Kidneys Give Out For...
December 5th, 2021 | Family, General, Holidays, Time Passes
Christmas 2021 Dearest All, The box turtles look so surprised, heads withdrawn above the hinged front of the plastron, topaz eyes wide and startled. They are invisible until I yank weeds or scatter fallen leaves; then the carapace, rounded and daubed with orange, is...