A boy’s ninth birthday inspires contemplation of how this unlikely milestone marks not just the child’s life but motherhood, too.
Read MoreCelebration Song
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Japan Remembered
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Zenlike and modern but more bizarre than I expected, Japan left an impression that is as surprising today as it was ten years ago.
Read MoreBirthday Calypso
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In this hasty post I talk about blogging, birthdays, packing for a trip, and my favorite way to prepare a simple pot of beans.
Read MoreDream Salad
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In this essay I turn my analytical tools toward the phrases I sometimes record upon waking from my language-driven dreams.
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High Middle Childhood
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Photos of boys of a certain age enjoying their winter break. Also, a glimpse into the origin of the phrase in the title.
Read MoreDeck the Halls 2017
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A handful of photos documenting December wonders plus a brief confession about my experience of this year’s holiday season.
Read MoreA Thing or Two About Turning Forty
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Contrary to what I imagined, and definitely against most that I’ve been told, turning forty is not so monumental at all.
Read MoreCaptions for a Late Summer Sky
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Some inspiration from a glimpse of the Mokotów sky caught one half hour before sunset and minutes before a burst of rain.
Read MoreOre of the Woods
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Longer than anything I’ve written since college, this essay is about a summer cabin and a daughter’s memories of her father.
Read MoreEasements
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On ways that working has eased my recent suffering, or rather the completion of work, the proof of my capacity for it.
Read MoreSurviving My Father
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Reflections on my father’s funeral and one remarkable photo taken 11 years, 11 months, and 11 days before the day he would die.
Read MoreEastern Easter
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A springtime feast for two that seems to break all the rules can still be a festive celebration of the holiday spirit.
Read MoreHead Lice: a Memory
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It turns out that having lice is not as bad as it seems—and reminiscing about the experience can be downright wonderful.
Read MoreAn Education
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It’s unclear who had the bigger job this time around: the one forced to do the writing or the one forced to do the forcing.
Read MoreGrand Ending
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Days before the year’s close, another dismantling was on display. Here is my words-and-images record of this remarkable event.
Read MoreCaptions for a Winter Scene
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A selection of captions inspired by a photograph of the view from our kitchen windows on a snow-topped Warsaw day.
Read MoreAn Advent Adventure
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Reflections on a tradition we adopted in 2015, which lights up the dark winter mornings with a steady uptake of jolly cheer.
Read MoreRequiem
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On the fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a sunset scene in Warsaw, Poland, is a symbolic comment on the tragedy.
Read MoreA Big Kid Now
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My son, Anker, caught at the perfect juncture between playing in the sand and having decidedly outgrown the sandbox.
Read MoreCrows on a Crane
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Outside our windows, a construction site roars to life at seven o’clock in the morning. But when evening comes, quiet falls.
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