Oct 18My Dad’s ThingsI opened my dad’s office desk drawer after he died. In it, I found neatly organized items from the insurance and financial planning businesses he had run. Pens. Letter openers. Calling cards. Rulers. Dirty jokes on calling cards. Mostly promotional materials saved throughout the years. When I was a child…Dads9 min readDads9 min read
Jun 23A Few Grumpy RhetoricsThis is a photograph of my daughter and me. We are in a Mexican grocery store called Aguascalientes. There is a taqueria inside the store. We are waiting for our tacos. I love tacos. They make me happy. I drag my kids to taqueria after taqueria, trying tacos whenever I…Grumpy10 min readGrumpy10 min read
May 17Significant InsignificanceOn a given afternoon, I sit down at my small bistro table outside with an espresso. The tiny cup on the tiny saucer. Thick coffee staring back at me. This is my afternoon ritual. My daughter will sometimes comment on this ritual or text me later in the day: did…Significance9 min readSignificance9 min read
Feb 17Shit RhetoricsShit Rhetorics My father used to shit with the door open. Growing up, I might be walking down the hall of our small, suburban, ranch home in Kendall, and there, out of the corner of my eye, would I spot my father on the toilet shitting. Maybe he was reading…Shit9 min readShit9 min read
Dec 28, 2021A Story About A StrokeThis cigar store Indian sits in my parents’ living room. It’s offensive. Anyone I know who has seen it recognizes that it is offensive. I once asked my father, who likely paid a decent amount of money for this figure and who proudly displays it where people gather in his…Stroke9 min readStroke9 min read
Oct 6, 2021Dream RhetoricsI had a dream the other night. I was with some other people at either a dinner or a banquet. In front of me was something to eat, something cheesy and gooey that looked delicious and worth a picture I should upload to Instagram. I took out my phone —…Dreams8 min readDreams8 min read
Aug 29, 2021Pandemic SketchesI’m a writer trying to write. Laptop open. Dog under my feet. Staring at a dirty computer screen marked by scattered, past lunches and dust. The radio playing in the background. Work emails. Pandemic hovering around. Trying to write. Trying. This is not writer’s block. This is not — necessarily…Pandemic9 min readPandemic9 min read
Jun 23, 2021Dictionary RhetoricsThis is my great grandmother’s dictionary. Born in Kiev, my great grandmother could speak three languages: Russian, English, and Yiddish. She came to America as a young girl fleeing the pogroms, eventually to live and bicker with her daughter in Yiddish almost 90 years later in a suburban Miami neighborhood…Loss8 min readLoss8 min read
May 29, 2021Another Recipe StoryMy Co-Star horoscope the other morning gave a simple direction: Ask for a recipe. As someone who spends a great deal of time cooking, I am familiar with recipes. A week after my ex-wife told me she wanted a divorce, I wrote a Medium piece called “Recipes.” My life collapsing…Recipe9 min readRecipe9 min read
Mar 30, 2021That Time I Didn’t Meet Bob DylanBob Dylan had a birthday recently. I read it online. On my Facebook profile, I did not get a notification of his birthday. We are not Facebook friends. That simple point strikes me as simultaneously both reasonable and absurd. Why shouldn’t Bob Dylan be my Facebook friend? Have I done…Dylan8 min readDylan8 min read
