Hope

stories

for the information age

These bite-sized stories chronicle my efforts, both pitiful and successful,

to navigate the rapidly-changing world.

My hope is that they help you do the same.

Dec 23, 20221 min read

ON A WEDNESDAY MORNING

As I wrap your gift, I have the irrational desire to somehow shield you from the terrible emptiness the holidays can bring. It is an...

Dec 5, 20221 min read

PLEASE PASS THE BABY

On Thanksgiving, we passed the baby around. We took turns holding her, swaying her in our arms. We ate cheese and crackers, and then we...

Oct 4, 20221 min read

BEFORE LOVE

If you snip a few of the blooms that grow on the garden edge with sharp shears. If you cut in pursuit of beauty, in the hope of bringing...

Sep 14, 20221 min read

EMPTY-HANDED

In the bookstore, the fusty scent of ink and pulp. I want to lie down on the floor and breathe in the smell of words. I want to hold the...

Aug 25, 20221 min read

INTO THE NIGHT

Last night, a cricket was in the house. He made his high-pitched song and I listened from bed. He trilled and he chirped. He was calling...

Aug 19, 20221 min read

TELL IT AGAIN

As we meandered through Roman ruins, my son told us about the Tetrarchy, the ambition of Constantine, the greed of Nero, the eloquence of...

Aug 3, 20221 min read

I HAVE DOG-EARED YOU

Sometimes, while I write, I put a pile of books on the table next to me. From time to time, I touch the pile, hoping for some osmosis of...

Jul 28, 20221 min read

WHEN WE WERE APART

There were no cellphones back then. Back then, when we were apart, we wrote letters to each other. On legal pads, or binder paper. In...

Oct 28, 20211 min read

I'VE CHANGED MY MIND

I push the weights up and down on the wobbly workout bench. I notice my body in the mirror—still able, but altered somehow. I look away...

Apr 15, 20212 min read

THE LIFE WE WANT TO LIVE

In each of my childhood memories, smoke plumes across the scene. My parents smoked in the car, tipped ashes out of the triangular window,...

Mar 26, 20211 min read

NOCTURNE

All day I wait for night -- the cricket whir, the moonlight, the hush. If daylight belongs to all creatures, night is possessive; it...

Feb 26, 20211 min read

NOTHING TO READ

I was twelve years old when I read The Old Man and the Sea for the first time. I was terribly moved by it, by its stark beauty and by the...

Feb 4, 20211 min read

WINTER PRAYER

It is winter. Even in California, the air is icy and the rainstorm we have waited for all year clatters down. This morning, a respite and...

Dec 10, 20201 min read

THE LONGING

My life so far can be divided into chapters of longing. Longing for attention, for safety, for being wanted, for babies, for knowing...

Nov 12, 20201 min read

RISE

I have been trying to smile when I wake up in the morning. Not the big, toothy, glad-to-meet-you smile, but a quiet smile, an...

Oct 15, 20201 min read

SCRAWL

I keep two notebooks on my desk. The first notebook is over-sized – I bought it at an extravagant home store and thought, this will...

Oct 1, 20201 min read

THE HOLLOW

Nowadays, around 6pm, I begin to prepare for bed. I cook, I eat what I have cooked, I clean the mess from the cooking and eating. My mind...

Sep 24, 20201 min read

COUNTING SLEEP

It has been one month since I kicked my cellphone out of the bedroom. And since that first evening, I've slept an average of...

Sep 10, 20201 min read

REAL LIVE PEOPLE

I have been trying to look at real live people. It is a particular challenge right now - what with face masks and the general...

Aug 13, 20202 min read

SLOSHING ABOUT

When I was a kid, my family moved from California to Massachusetts during the high heat of summer. It was a trying move - we were two...