Fatherhood. It came up again last night almost effortlessly. And why not, considering I was carefully balancing twin kindergartners, Rozaline and Arlene, at the time? It was their own father, Ramon, who picked the questions out of the blue. Had I thought of marriage? Had I thought of children, of being a father myself? No doubt, I looked the part ( Read more... )

They grow up so fast, don't they? It's hard for me to imagine that My Kids, a ragtag assortment of five year-old Palestinians, have graduated - of a sorts. But there they were this morning, all sporting golden gowns and blue mortarboards and struggling mightily to stay in line for their procession.

Having already seen their official graduation ( Read more... )

I will gladly pay the ultimate price.
It's all the nickel-and-diming along the way that I balk at.

Cross-posted in 2_lines.

Not too long ago, I was a high school student caught up in a world where the grades at the top of exams and essays were life-or-death affairs. My future - nay, Western Civilization's survival - rested on so many accumulated red numbers in my teacher's ledger. If the numbers stayed high, say, above 80, the Earth would continue to spin on its axis ( Read more... )

All Coach Barksdale promised was that we'd get better, a modest proposition but no less accurate for it. I've spent the last three evenings - cold, windy, and late - running all manners of drills with the rest of Beit Sahour's would-be ballers.

Because Coach Barksdale has a few more stops to make on his West Bank tour of duty, we didn't linger long ( Read more... )

You know what love is?
Pushing a little girl in the swings until your shoulder's sore.

Cross-posted in 2_lines.

It's hard work being a Renaissance Man.
You practice left-handed layups by day and read The Economist by night.

Cross-posted in 2_lines.

I have only been entrusted with a negligible amount of power,
But still I wish I was evil enough to abuse it just once.

Cross-posted in 2_lines.

There's this line, you see. And it's big, and bold, and and it stretches out forever because it's a really important line. There are even big warning signs leading up to it, like the ones lining interstate highways, so that you know how close you're getting to the line and so that you don't forget to turn back before it's too late. And when you get ( Read more... )

I'm a good writer.

There, I said it. I'm more than comfortable wallowing in my failings and I'll be the first to knock myself down a few pegs, but not when it comes to my skills as a writer.

Because this is my gift.

It's certainly the most pronounced one, the one that almost never fails me. And, yes, there are times when I swear it's all I've got.  ( Read more... )