Whenever she confronted an intimate problem, she tended to adopt the public manner of the lecture hall, and use longer and longer words, and make references to books that she thought everyone should have read. Only when the matter was safely bundled up in this way might she sometimes relax into kindliness, though that was rare, and even then you ( Read more... )

I was at this event on Sunday:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/nyregion/08birthright.html?_r=1&em&ex=1191988800&en=0c15c58660b1eb91&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin
and was initially impressed by NYTimes coverage of it (in the "wow...cool" kinda way, picturing exactly where I stood when the main photo was taken).  And then I actually read the article.  Good ( Read more... )

The optical on the corner was taking down one of their window signs as I crossed toward it.  No more free eye exams.  It would suck if that’s where I was heading.

On that same corner, two men were finishing up a discussion.  A woman passing by interjected, “liar!”  Nice touch, I thought.  Not my style, but we’re very different people.

I overheard ( Read more... )

For all the deviations, exceptions, and unquestionably unique interactions, there remain uncomfortably many moments in the course of a day, of the work day in particular, that insistently delineate the day's similarity to commercials extolling the melodiousness of banal repetition- the inspiring harmony created in the streets by the garbage truck, ( Read more... )

I have been tagged by iameug with the following:

"Once tagged by this entry, the assignment is to write a blog entry of some kind with six random facts about yourself. Then, pick six of your friends and tag them; no tag backs. This explanation should be included."

1. The celestial seasonings tea bags we have at work each contain a famous quote. With few ( Read more... )

A Step Away From Them ( Read more... )

“Often this poet, strolling through the noisy splintered glare of a Manhattan noon, has paused at a sample Olivetti to type up thirty or forty lines of ruminations, or pondering more deeply has withdrawn to a darkened ware- or firehouse to limn his computed misunderstandings of the eternal questions of life, co-existence and depth, while never ( Read more... )

we have always said that in our war with the arabs we had a secret weapon- no alternative.
golda meir

I glanced at him and experienced the usual range of emotions when I see, and stop to think about, older people- single old men in particular. Perhaps because of his slight, frail frame, or his glasses, the thought suddenly crossed my mind (before I had a chance to withhold it for its nonsensical content)- what if it were Woody Allen who decided to ( Read more... )

A large “wet paint” sign hung from a garbage can, attached with red tape that stretched from the railing and extended to the next garbage can. A casually sinister warning against the temptation to flirtatiously run one’s fingers along the rim while passing the bold receptacle, or to hug its body, appreciative of the structure’s selfless and ( Read more... )