It’s MLK Jr. Day. What’s the appropriate greeting, “Happy MLK Day”? That doesn’t seem right to me. I was raised in a family that observed the major Jewish holidays. I was taught the majors were the “high holidays” (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) and Passover. I have a vague and possibly incorrect memory of being […]
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Dear, Dear
I love advice columns. My favorite part of reading Dear Abby is laughing about whether someone I know is the correspondent. For example: Dear Abby: My calico cat, Rosie, seems to be fixated on my next-door neighbor Ron. Every morning Rosie grooms herself for an hour, then jumps in the window to watch for Ron…. […]
Late August: Blackberry Thoughts
Photo Credit: @AlfieDies on Twitter, June 16, 2020 Earlier this year, I read the lovely volume The Point of Poetry by Joe Nutt. I had read a few of the poems in that book before, but not many. Seamus Heaney’s “Blackberry-Picking” was a new one for me. The first few lines: Late August, given heavy […]
Chartreuse Dining Room Chairs
Richard Russo writes in his memoir, Elsewhere: One of the sadder truths of childhood is that children, lacking the necessary experience by which to gauge, are unlikely to know if something is abnormal or unnatural unless an adult tells them. In the 1970s, my family had chartreuse vinyl upholstered dining room chairs. Chartreuse vinyl? Not […]
A Friend’s Blessing
Overheard, from a friend: May miracles come your way often, and especially today. This is a perfect, all-purpose blessing, and I wanted to offer it to my blog readers. A few of you are nodding in agreement. The other few are saying, “miracle, schmiracle.” You know who you are. One the first five posts on […]
Fueled by Indignation
Shortly after I started as division chair in 2017, Exemplary Girlfriend checked in with me: How are you? How is life as division chair? Are you mired in bureaucracy? Or pleasantly surprised? My response: I am good. A little manic, actually. Mired doesn’t quite capture it. More like frenetic. Every day there is some new […]
What I Should Have Said
In my previous post, I told the story of an exchange I had with a churlish telemarketer. I wonder if I was an unknowing character in a scene of retribution: “Next time, I [churlish telemarketer] am going to tell the person s/he is an asshole!” That thought makes me reflect on answers not given. Monday […]
720 513 8184
I’m working at home. You are, too, right? Get any telemarketer calls? The other day, 720 513 8184 called me. It showed as a Denver number. I didn’t recognize it. But, because DH was out and about, I answered it. There was that pause with the hum of background activity on the line. The telltale […]
Silver Anniversary of Motherhood
Today is my silver anniversary of motherhood: the occasion of my older child’s twenty-fifth birthday. Here is a picture that makes me smile. There he is, as a two year old, swinging his arms. Strutting around the Stanford Quad like he owns the place. Not all that different from now, really. (Except that the Physics […]