Wednesday, August 25, 2021

So you don't forget (Bourdain, but also many others)

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Today is my friend's birthday  and when I log onto Facebook to leave a message, I see she has changed her profile picture. It’s the phot...
Monday, August 23, 2021

Swooning at the New York Public Library

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Back before the pandemic made us shelve all kinds of plans, I won a short-term fellowship at the New York Public Library  that had to be pos...
Monday, August 09, 2021

Dimmi tutto

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Il bello quando tu abiti all'estero  è  che tante cose -- usanze, luoghi, abitudini -- sono leggermente diverse, invece di totalmente di...
Monday, August 02, 2021

Hartford by bike

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I'm drawn to smaller, former industrial cities, that some people would call perhaps somewhat down at their heels (I would call lovely). ...
Monday, July 26, 2021

Rebecca Solnit on walking in a city

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I'm reading Rebecca Solnit's nonfiction book, Wanderlust: A History of Walking , and it's a perfect book for someone like me who...
Friday, July 23, 2021

Amy Winehouse died 10 years ago (essay for Entropy)

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Hard to believe, but Amy Winehouse has been gone for a decade. For me, it was almost equally unbelievable that I would become a big fan of h...
Tuesday, July 20, 2021

My Home is My Muse (for Brevity)

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If you have books strewn about your house and articles you've printed out and copies of the newspaper you're saving from months ago ...
Thursday, July 15, 2021

Edith Bruck: Recounting the Holocaust Until She Can’t

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It's hard to walk away from a writer once she tells you surviving the Holocaust is like being pregnant with a monster she can never deli...
Tuesday, July 06, 2021

"Seeking the genesis of all the deception" (translating Di Lascia)

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I am translating what I like to call the best modern Italian classic novel you've never read! (In English, at least). It's called in...
Tuesday, June 29, 2021

The way to go

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I'm only at the dentist a few minutes last February when the dental hygienist asks me if I do any winter sports. I tell her that Leo an...
2 comments:
Saturday, June 26, 2021

Who loves fish the most? (from the Leo Journal)

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Looking at one of the mammoth fish tanks at Butterfly, the Chinese restaurant on Farmington, Leo says, “Let’s count by hearts who loves fish...
Wednesday, June 16, 2021

A love letter to libraries masquerading as a news story (CNN)

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Did you know librarians have worked as contact tracers during the pandemic? Me, neither. It's one of many wonderful things that libraria...
Sunday, June 13, 2021

Stealing Memories (for the Boston Globe)

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I've been writing in my journal (and on the blog) a lot about my parents, and their declining health, and what we've lost by losing ...
Tuesday, June 08, 2021

How I write regularly (Jeanne's tips)

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I share with my writing students at Wesleyan a list of tips for those who want to write more often -- to keep writing as a regular practice...
Monday, May 31, 2021

Lo dico al Corriere: Basta con gli anglicismi

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Ecco la lettera che ho scritto a Aldo Cazzullo al Corriere della Sera , con lo scopo di far ricordare che l'Italiano fa parte del patrim...
Monday, May 24, 2021

What I've feared most about post-pandemic life

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I haven't feared returning to 'normal life.' I've feared  not being able to return to normal life.  I fear that I will rece...
Tuesday, May 18, 2021

'The Last Speakers' and the other yesterday

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I've just read the most fascinating book about the scores of indigenous languages that are disappearing around the globe. I've read ...
6 comments:
Saturday, May 15, 2021

He asks Twitter's best questions (for CNN)

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What opening lyric of a song gives you the chills? What celebrity death hit you the hardest?  What's something extremely strange you bel...
Wednesday, May 12, 2021

To blog or not to blog (for Brevity)

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I wrote a piece about whether writers should maintain a personal blog for the Brevity Nonfiction Blog, but I will confess I only know that I...
Thursday, May 06, 2021

Postcard from the vaccine dispensary

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I won't give you an image that you can print but rather one you can perhaps feel: when I arrived at my vaccine appointment yesterday, I ...