Thing about a cold, everything shrinks. Horizons narrow, walls close in. Energies focus…there is that. There is probably something else, but I forget what it is. For that is the other thing, the unapologetic absence of caring about certain things. Part of the shrinking horizons. The thing that doesn't shrink, of course, is one's mucous membranes. That thing, or things, takes over like a 1950s horror film scourge. It creeps, it slithers, it expands. The enlargement of things that itch and drain Read more [...]

Who put the 'temp' in Tempe? It is everywhere, this sense of the temporary. This university town, the main suburb to the west of Phoenix, is home to my sister and brother-in-law. So, what is there to do but visit? Especially on a February day of warmth, dining al fresco, reading in the afternoon brilliance of the hotel's Spanish-style courtyard. And relishing this, my life. I am caught up in Leo Litwak's novel 'Home for Sale.' I wish it had not slipped out of sight, as all of my possessions do. Read more [...]