Dreading the coming face-plant into January? I am. Cold, dark mornings followed by cold, dark evenings, chintzy decor strung up well past its prime, dirty snow (if any snow at all) heaped under dreary parking lot lighting, long gift-return lines. Nature brown and bare. Plus, the state of the world. THE STATE OF THE WORLD. […]
Miscellaneous
The writer Tom Stoppard died on November 29. We’re re-posting this essay (which originally appeared on June 10, 2011) in his honor. The references to dates (e.g., “A few months ago”) remain as in the original post. The 16-year-old student has an idea, but she doesn’t have the maths to support it. She does, however, […]
This post first appeared in October of 2019. All original artwork by the author.
Autumn always makes the woods feel emptyThough I know strictly speakingThis isn’t true Bears prowl orchardsChuff through oak grovesStuff themselves before a slumberThat grows shorter every yearDeer, too, are bolder now and dumberHaunting the edges of highwaysRunning to or from the rutEven many insects remainHidden in soil or bark Unnamed under leavesOr within the spongy […]
“I put my pants on just like the rest of you—one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records.” Christopher Walken as The Bruce Dickinson, SNL “More Cowbell” sketch Margaret Atwood (Peggy in her personal life) resisted writing her memoirs because she thought her life was not interesting. She […]
This post first ran in 2023. One cold night a couple of weeks ago, my family and I bundled up to bike out to a park in one of Seattle’s northern suburbs. We have a routine for such trips after all these years. First we layer, and then we bedeck our bikes with lights: front […]
I used to work at the Science news office in the American Association for the Advancement of Science office in DC. As anyone who’s been there will tell you, there’s something special about the AAAS building — the dark polished rock exterior, the spiral staircase that, as you climb from floor to floor, takes you […]
I’ve never been a small-dog person. I get that they have a touch of cuteness to offer; they are, after all, tiny, furry things with big eyes, and some have silly faces, floppy ears, and goofy antics. But most that I’ve met are just perpetual barkers of the piercing sort, or teeth-bearing growlers, trying to […]
