The kingdom where nobody dies
I am grieving, and I assume I’ll be doing that for a long time, probably to some extent for the rest of my life. I often get the urge to write and write and write about losing Gerard, but I … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Me, myself, and I
Angela Davis, Pilgrim
Angela Davis recently made an appearance on Louis Gates’ “Finding Your Roots” program. She got a bit of a surprise: Angela Davis bought the guns used in a courthouse raid that murdered a judge, and she later served as Gus … Continue reading →
Gerard Vanderleun’s obituary: on loss and memory
Here’s the link to Gerard’s obituary. It’s not particularly long, considering how much he did in his life. And of course, like most obituaries, it doesn’t really convey the person himself in all his complexity and energy and vitality. Gerard’s … Continue reading →
Why I don’t read novels anymore
This article claims that giving up novel-reading can be a sign of senility: Fiction, on the other hand, requires you to exercise your memory, as you proceed from beginning to end and retain a variety of details, characters and plots. … Continue reading →
Home again
I got home very late last night. The flight was good and even got in early, weather here was unseasonably mild, and I’m not too jet-lagged. Things still seem rather surreal. Here’s my question, though. For the last five years … Continue reading →
Valentine’s Day: some thoughts and a poem
Today is Valentine’s Day and I’m feeling somewhat raw, for obvious reasons. And yet I’ve never been really big on Valentine’s Day celebrations. After all, for the last thirty years or so I haven’t been able to eat chocolate without … Continue reading →
The return of the lost
The other day I thought I’d lost my favorite earrings. That is, one of the pair of my favorite earrings, which are these. I’ve had those earrings for at least twenty years, maybe thirty or forty years. Hard to say … Continue reading →
Ivan Illych and history
[NOTE: Here’s a repeat of one of my earliest posts, written in my very first year of blogging: May, 2005. Back then I didn’t have all that many readers, so I thought I’d bring it out for another go-round.] I … Continue reading →
Neo’s true confessions
Regular readers here know I don’t usually go in for personal revelations. It’s not that my life is absent from my own blog, but I ordinarily cite something only as a jumping-off place for some of my thoughts and reflections. … Continue reading →
Posting later in the day
You may have noticed that the timing of my posts has shifted to later in the day. That’s mostly because I’m on the west coast, and should be here for about the next two weeks. It’s also, of course, because … Continue reading →
When death comes for bloggers
It’s a daily voice, like a friend you talk to on the phone every day. The closest thing to this kind of writing prior to blogging was the daily columnist (when did those go out? or did they ever exist?). … Continue reading →
The theme and variations versus the symphony: on love
[NOTE: First published here in June of 2006.] I try to do about three miles of brisk walking every day for exercise. On rainy or snowy days, I’m off to the gym and its treadmill, which feels like–well, like being … Continue reading →