He’s eleven. Tall. You could tie a string on this boy and fly him as a kite. He gets good grades. Never gets in trouble in school. His parents philosophically oppose corporal punishment. No one has ever laid a hand on this boy. From birth, this boy has been inculcated with one central ethos: Respect is the most important rule. And the rule cuts both ways. These parents … [Read more...]
Laughter and Globetrotters: Times changing
Is there a greater joy than the sound of a child’s laughter? 2009. Friends give me two tickets courtside to the Harlem Globetrotters. And here we are. And my youngest, then 7 years-old, can’t stop laughing. In heaven, there’s a 24-hour XM radio channel of children laughing. I’m sure of it. In one bit, the Globetrotters line up as a five-man football team. Clown Prince of … [Read more...]
In Gliding I Become Utterly Myself
‘You trust in something invisible – air – which will only help you if you are willing to fall into it.’ Wee dawn. The airplane rages down the runway toward a Mojave Desert sunrise beckoning orange and purple and other colors of hope. To this day I retain a boyish fascination with aircraft, face plastered against the window, still astonished that metal can fly. The Boeing … [Read more...]
Trump talk: I don’t have friends like that
I try to be fair. And here’s where those efforts lead me regarding the revelation of Donald Trump’s not-the-least surprising and completely in character remarks about women recorded unawares on a hot microphone in 2005. Let’s begin with the obvious: Alone or in select company, I regularly do and say things that I would do and say differently or not at all if I knew I was … [Read more...]
The Healthy Journey of Leaving Home
He describes his family-of-origin as “like walking into the 1950s ... like watching an episode of “The Sopranos.” He describes his family as “committed and respectful.” Well, certainly committed. Powerfully, even savagely committed. His family is not merely Mediterranean, but Old World Mediterranean. Each member of this family would, in turn, lay down in front of a train for … [Read more...]
You Can’t Teach a Pig to Sing
It isn’t easy to say this out loud. But it has been on my mind for years. Maybe decades. I’ve sensed it. But, up ‘til now, I have dodged saying it. I stumble across an old poster while cleaning the garage. I love this poster. Have always loved it. Maybe I’ve always known, intuitively, what it meant. But somehow, today, I’m ready to hear it. Own it. Say it. Though it still … [Read more...]
Yoga is Worship – it Crucifies You
I seem to be on a tear lately of jumping headlong into the deep end of pools of my ignorance. Activities and endeavors about which I know nothing. Such as learning to dance. Getting clobbered in chess by my 14-year-old son. Skeet shooting. And now yoga. A friend takes me to yoga. She described it as “calming the chaos of the mind.” Which scares me, because I’m really into … [Read more...]
Is Sex Key to Winning a Man?
Is it possible for a woman who practices abstinence outside of marriage to compete on a level playing field against a woman who uses sex as a tool in her relationship tool-box? (For a crazy minute or two, I was hit with the temptation to take off the gloves and really compete for the attentions of the fellow I casually dated; just a harebrained moment of competitive spirit that … [Read more...]