July 4—tick tick, boom boom
July 05, 2010
Filed in: Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, North Dakota, The Way We Live Now
Happy bday, USA.
I celebrated by standing alone (don’t ask) for three hours watching a hometown parade in a town that was not my hometown. The barrier to entry for this particular parade was charmingly low—if you owned a motor vehicle, preferably some kind of large truck, and/or could reliably...
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A brief note from an unpleasant person
June 13, 2010
Filed in: The Home Front, The Way We Live Now
I know, you’ve been sick with worry—where have I been? How goes my quest to get to all 50 states before I turn 50?
The answer, dear readers, is that I published a book – nothing as fabulous as The 50th State will be – but a book nonetheless, a privilege for which I am eternally grateful.
But...
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It’s not about Gourmet. Well, not exactly…
November 03, 2009
Filed in: The Middle Ages, The Way We Live Now
So yeah, The 50th State is about my quest to get to all 50 states before my now rapidly approaching fiftieth birthday. But it’s also about what middle-class midlife looks and feels like in America right now. Which is rougher than Kachemak Bay when the wind is whipped up; more offputting than North...
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Tracy and Teddy and The Boston Globe
September 23, 2009
Filed in: The Home Front, The Middle Ages, The Way We Live Now
A couple of weeks ago, I did something I haven’t done for ages and ages – sat down and read The Boston Globe from cover to cover.
It was a dark Saturday morning, pouring rain from the edge of some tropical depression or another (Bill? Dennis?) that was passing by. Ted Kennedy had already had...
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(A Few) Headlines from Hell
July 17, 2009
Filed in: The Home Front, The Way We Live Now
Today the Boston Globe reported that unemployment in Massachusetts
is as bad as it’s been since September of 1992.
Coincidentally, September of 1992 was when I was laid off from the last full-time job I had, as a reviews editor at Lotus Magazine.
T and I were on vacation in the Adirondaks...
