You’re Home Now, Kid

At the start of a recent commute home from work my car ...

‘For Small Creatures Such As We, The Vastness Is Bearable Only Through Love.’

“At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition ...

You Be Careful Out There Among The English

A great movie may tell an achingly romantic love story, serve up ...

The Five Things I Learned From George Bailey

“Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around ...

‘Hope Is The Thing With Feathers, That Perches In The Soul…’

If the poet Emily Dickinson had seen The Shawshank Redemption, she’d have ...

When Movies Remind Us Who We Are

The dark, smoldering eyes I notice first, peeking out from under a ...

Ryan White And The Battle of Kokomo

Most tulips like Mediterranean climates and detest summer rains. They bloom quickly. Others need a long dormancy under cover of snow. They bloom late. But their colors are more vivid. Long after the others have lost their petals, they linger. Encounters with people can be much the same. They may reveal themselves immediately. Or, the […]

In Praise Of ‘The Intangibles’

Do you believe? That’s the central question of a smart and insightful 1947 movie that at first blush seems no more than a beloved film about Santa Claus. One Thanksgiving morning, a kindly, bearded man named Kris Kringle appears on the streets of Manhattan. He is gently scolding a merchant whose gift shop window has […]

Rocket Boys

Summer 1966. A still, cloudless evening as the bird is prepped for a launch window of 18:30 hours EST. That’s the timeslot for Peyton Place, which will occupy our parents for at least 30 minutes. The Flight Director, fresh out of seventh grade, is my older brother. He makes a final check. Guidance: Go. Telemetry: Go. […]

The Thrill Of It All

Whenever Doris Day and James Garner came for a visit, it was a huge deal. They never literally came to our house, of course, but at least once or twice a year the 1963 romantic comedy The Thrill of It All was on TV. My parents would plan their entire weekend around its 108 minutes […]

High Fidelity

Narrow and slush-covered, lined by red brick walls and black fire escapes, the street is empty but for a young couple inexplicably walking right down the middle. The man is stick-thin and vaguely androgynous. His hands are plunged deep into the pockets of his jeans. His flimsy suede jacket can’t begin to touch the cold. […]

The Truth Is Out There

California Highway 9 starts at the northern edge of Monterey Bay, a winding, hilly two-lane that quickly takes you to the edge of a thousand-year redwood forest. In a small cabin not 30 feet from the road, a man with a long white beard ponders a mystery that has occupied his mind for some 60 […]

Guy Walks Into A Bar

I didn’t intend this to be a “Guy Walks into a Bar” story. Unavoidable nonetheless. Guy Walks into a Bar. In Manhattan, several years ago. It’s Friday afternoon and I have time to kill before a flight home. The Guy in question looks to be in his 70s, sprightly, trim, full head of silver hair. […]

Harry’s Timex

Harry Spearman’s classic goldtone Timex wristwatch spent the past 25 years in a box in a series of desks and dressers in apartments and houses in five different cities. Twice I tried to have it fixed, once by a jeweler, who gave up, and once by the people at Timex, who shipped it back to […]

The Dog Who Struggled To Be Good

The British poet Byron had a big shaggy Newfoundland called Boatswain. A Boatswain is a rank in the old Royal Navy. Seems an unlikely name for a dog. But for all I know Boatswain was the “Scout” or “Rover” of the 1700s. Like, you bring a puppy home and some guy in a powdered wig […]

Totally Random

In the end it’s the randomness that kills you. Ideas and stories and things people said in recent days have swirled into a gathering cloud of something that in the parlance of Winnie the Pooh forces me to “turn to matters too hard for a bear of little brain.” I prefer to do my deep […]