Bad Dream

Funny thing about anxiety, I was thinking as the evening bounced along, sometimes it's real and sometimes it isn't. And what is 'real?' Ah, so terribly profound, particularly leading up to dinner, already possessed by some vague and nameless fear. When did it start? And what did I make of it? The usual. Fear drifts in and out of my daily experience. Actually, it provides a natural set of guidelines. Just the other evening, the night routine being a bit out of sequence, I had taken off my shoes Read more [...]

Trail of Tears

'Have a nice day,' my countrymen regularly urge each other. The skeptics among us cast a jaundiced eye on such goings-on, of course. Perhaps we cast too quickly. What is this ‘un-nice day' that the body politic so fears? Fears, indeed. What else could throw this particular day off the rails so thoroughly, so early? Lorna, who captains Team Filipina, my support crew, was walking me this fine morning. Yes, 'walking me’ like a dog. Why not? In fact, there is even a sort of collar and leash available Read more [...]

Hard-Driving

I had to look up Adam Gopnick's age, just to see what the New Yorker writer was going on about in his recent piece. Not that I didn't really know. At age 57, it turns out, he was learning to drive. His article arrived at just the right moment in my re-learning the road. For there was enough in our shared experiences to strike a chord of recognition, and make me feel relieved. Why at 57? He's a New Yorker. He doesn't need a car in a city of subways. He does need, it turns out, to drive...for reasons Read more [...]