the orphan master’s son

I bought The Orphan Master’s Son some time ago, but for some reason put it aside and didn’t dive into it until recently. I happened to be in the midst of its magic… Read More →

the boy in the boat

I ache for all those affected… I ache for all of them, even the boy in the boat. The horror of the last few days has been unimaginable, not so much for me,… Read More →

my messy semi-examined life, redux

Maybe I’ve told you that as a dreamy, albeit odd, adolescent I raked leaves to save up enough money to take a class in transcendental meditation at the local library. There I sat,… Read More →

first, we listen (healers)

Wasn’t planning on posting, wasn’t planning on doing much tonight, other than feed my brain and my soul… which I did, and my heart which seems always full to bursting… …but could not… Read More →

the invisible girls

Memoirs have a way of flashing at us tiny mirrors in which we can see ourselves reflected. The fascinating thing about them is that even if the writer describes a life different in… Read More →

hikikomori and the rental sister

“I did not come inside one day, shut the door, and decide never to come out. I needed a day to grieve. Then a week. A month. Tired, I took a nap. When… Read More →

happiness and smuggling into another skin

Call me a curmudgeon, but I tend to run away from books about happiness. There’s something so utterly unhappy about reading about happiness, isn’t there? I mean, if you have to buy a… Read More →

a superstar in scrubs

What a great piece by Michael Specter in this week’s New Yorker… a fascinating profile of Dr. Mehmet Oz, a rising (risen?) star in the new (and questionable) field of medutainment, yet one… Read More →

turn the hands of time to the left

Maybe one of the reasons I was never a big sci-fi fan is because I have always preferred to direct my imagination backwards rather than ahead in time, spinning the time-traveler dial to… Read More →

shhhh, i’m listening

Let me begin with a confession of sorts, and then I’ll get on to the point of all this, which is sound, and listening and… hearing. Perhaps I should start this entry with… Read More →