We loved her. She loved us. These facts were undeniable. She was a person of great passion about anything she embraced, whether it was her family or cake decorating. She needed and absorbed love like she was the Sahara needing water, and no matter how much love, friendship, adoration she received, she was still the Sahara. It wasn’t that there ( Read more... )

Well, yesterday we packed up The Boy and took him to his new school. The whole thing looks like such a great idea, except for the part where this place is 200 miles away. Whose idea was that? Oh, right. Initially, it was mine.
He has always wanted to be a Marine, ever since at age 4 he announced he wanted to be a "soldier guy" when he grew up. I ( Read more... )

I've just read a most interesting article in Atlantic Monthly - thorough and well thought-out.  The article carries the above title and is by Anne-Marie Slaughter, a rather impressive person herself.  There were some points I could add, and some things I don't see myself, but wow she hits quite a few nails on their heads. 
See here: http://www. ( Read more... )

OK, so there wasn’t a Rapture of Good Souls that Left Behind Rotten Souls like me. Or if there was, very few people were Good Enough to go. Does this really mean anything?

Every day that I tend a death, I see a Rapture. I always tell the family that I am sure that their loved one is in a better place, and they will meet again some day. Most of the ( Read more... )

Older Son has finally received TENURE!!  No onedeserves it more.

Proud.  Very proud.  And I think his father is going to burst.

So I'm at a conference in LA, sitting in twilight rooms being taught at for hours a day.  I'm seeing people I haven't seen for ages, and as I walk through endless convention center hallways, I see people I know, smile, nod (what IS his name?) and say "Hi", over & over again ( Read more... )

I asked a dear little old man whether he wanted the overhead light on in his room.
He said "Yeah.  I'm cold-natured."
Um.
"Would you like me to get you a blanket?" I asked. 
"Nah" he said.  "I'm not cold."

OK, then. 

Older Son's new group, Beta Collide, has a video from their new album, Pssst...Pssst.  It's pretty cool: http://vimeo.com/15113848.  Older Son is the emphatic trumpeter.

Words cannot express how much I admire this young man.  Not even this article, written by someone who agrees with me, comes close.

http://www.oregonquarterly.com/autumn2010/feature3.php

As some of you know, I am in the process of writing a textbook about Neurologic eponyms, and boring a couple of you to death about it. 
The incomparable Greyrider is beta-ing the A's even now, God love her.  I've come upon something of a dilemma, and I thought I'd step out of my usual avoidance of real life on these pages to see what my f-list ( Read more... )