The Trigger: Congee Restaurant December 2017. In a hostel room in Seoul, Zoe was flipping through pages of her itinerary. She was rehearsing in her head where to go and what to eat first. Winter in Seoul is never pleasant to people from the south, as the coldest days in Hong Kong never fall below…
Tag: education
Thomas Jefferson: Accidental Novelist
I’ve often wanted to sit down and write an essay on what I call the accidental novel. What, you may ask… Well, it’s a book that was written as a work of nonfiction but that shows a different story than it tells. Read along with me for a moment and you’ll see. The accidental novel…
Passover (Caturday Questions)
It’s Passover, and Human-Mom is praying to God that how some day she will be set free from the tyranny of her feline tormentors always sitting on her forearms and swishing her face with their tails while she’s trying to write. They’re cute, though, so she has mixed feelings. Passover as Twice-Told Tale Little Cat…
Another Thor Story
It’s been less than a week since I returned from India. In five days, I should have been accosted at least three times by a tiny person with huge dark eyes. He should have hit me with his tiny fists and insisted: “Tell one Thor story!” I am referring of course to my nephew, Dr….
Kissing Rosalyn
When I was a teenager, I spent several summers at a Montessori-inspired hippie socialist utopian creative-and-performing arts camp. The eight weeks I spent at camp were a respite from trying to contort myself to fit in enough during the rest of the school year. Camp was a place to be myself. It was a place…
Textures (Caturday Questions)
Florida is not known for its winters, but Human-Mom did take to wearing her long sleeves when those nights started getting a bit chilly. Big Cat likes the feel of cotton under his paws. But Little Cat maintains he likes nuzzling against the bare forearm a bit better. The cats love their textures. Actually your…
Introduction to Literature*
I ask them to write an essayon Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”and compare it to real life’s victimizing, scapegoating, mob mentality, human cruelty. I say exercise close readingand let your argument lead the way; textual evidenceshall follow. Explore, excavate, then explicate.Find your own voice. I want them to enjoy freedomof speech (in this course at least). But all…
Indian Food: A Love Story (Bangalore Letter #4)
Indian food is a topic worthy of an essay all unto itself. More than one essay, really. But I will try to give an overview rather than a dissertation. The caveat, of course, is that this is all based on my direct observation. For real authorities on Indian cooking, try Swasthi or Cooking at Home…
Why We Need to “Flaunt” It
On a sunny Sunday afternoon in June, 1980-something, I was helping my mother change the sheets on her bed. I was in my early teens. Local news was covering the NYC Pride Parade and my mother turned to me, made a limp-wrist gesture and said, “Why do they need to flaunt it?” She continued, “I…
Women’s History Month: Healing and Anger
Adam and I have often spoken about how one of our goals is to amplify voices that may not be heard. Which kind of obligates us to address the fact that March is Women’s History Month. I’ve had a note in our 2 Rules calendar about Women’s History Month for a while, but it just…