Mimicry is one of the many skills I don’t possess. Even so, the people I’ve known over the course of my life have made their mark on me, and I hear it in the expressions I’ve co-opted from them. I’ll always recall from my childhood with affection
Memoir
MRI
Originally posted June 22, 2017. Last week I had an MRI, not my first. Familiarity takes some of the edge off my anxiety about it, but it still runs like a current through the weeks and days. All too soon, I’m in a dressing room at the MRI
Justin, My Own Farewell
1 When I picked up the ringing phone, I heard a recording of a man howling in agony. How despicable of a robo-caller to disseminate such a heart-rending sound. I hung up. Half an hour later, the phone rang again. It was my brother, crying, but now
Regret
The subject of regret has been on my mind after a month of disturbed insomniac nights as I began my recovery from a broken femur (thigh bone) and surgery. My focus is now on physical therapy and the slow return to normal. However, those early, rather
Looking Back on a Mediation Program from the COVID Era
For the past twenty-two months, my old office, the New York State Attorney General’s complaint mediation program, has been empty but for two people: a file clerk and a staff member who processes the day’s mail. COVID-19 is the explanation, of course.
Longing
I’ve wondered why the Beatles’ “Michelle” lingers in the mind. For one thing, the lyrics are ludicrous. The only French words the singer, Paul McCartney, claims to know are “ma belle” and “Sont les mots qui vont très bien ensemble,” which he goes on