Four Februarys ago, I attended two funerals in the same week. It was the first time that had happened. A month later I was in New York hanging out with my niece and nephew. My sister had decided to fly down from Edmonton during their spring break, and New York is always a great place … Continue reading Ruth Goldbas & Ernie Banks, who died old, and Baki, who died young
Category: Family story
One of the best things about finishing grad school is getting to read for pleasure again. I recently finished one novel - “The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson, and am currently about halfway through “All My Puny Sorrows” by Miriam Toews. My Facebook pal Chase recommended the Johnson book in the wake of the … Continue reading North Korea and Canada between covers: A pair of mini book reviews
So, yesterday I took Mom to the neurologist. She’s been having more of these spells where one minute she’s fine, and the next she’s crumpling up like a boneless doll. They’re not pretty. The nurse practitioner at the nursing home where she lives thought it might be the Parkinson’s disease progressing, so we moved her … Continue reading Travels with Mom: a trip to the Neurologist
When Debbie Friedman died four years ago, the whole Jewish world stood up and paid attention. I’d been paying attention to Debbie my whole life, because she was nine when I was born and our mothers are sisters. That first year after she died, pictures kept showing up on Facebook, synagogues were singing her songs … Continue reading Debbie Friedman, number eight of Bubby & Zaydie’s 15
My father was very fond of books. Naturally, this is a point of pride for my sister and me. Dad read to us all the time when we were children. He instilled a love of books and writing that has outlived him by decades. He was also very fond of breasts. Large breasts. I hold … Continue reading My dad: the rabbi who loved large breasts
Six Decembers ago, Sweetheart & I moved. Along with our physical possessions, I was concerned about emotional baggage. Mine, not his. It was just shy of a month living here, New Year's Day in 2009, when I wrote this essay. Real Estate & Leather Sweetheart and I had just gotten the keys to our new house after … Continue reading Real Estate & Leather: A ‘Throwback Thursday’ post
Like most working people in the US, where Christian culture is majority culture, I’d been looking forward to a couple of days off at Christmas. It’s not my holiday. But I get to partake of its best parts because Sweetheart’s family is a mashup of Lutherans, atheists who grew up as Lutherans & Catholics-by-choice. Sweetheart … Continue reading ‘I’m not big on long goodbyes’ or Death at Christmas
I like to think I grew up in a practical family, but as I get older, I’m realizing the truth is more that I grew up in a family that liked to think it was merely practical. I’m in the process of working out exactly what to call us. For now, I’m gonna go with … Continue reading Practical Gothic: an Ancestral Meditation
the sentence factory 