Earlier today, while in the process of writing something for which I was on deadline, I did what every writer does under such circumstances — something else. But first — the backstory! Some indeterminate time ago, Twitter soft-launched a tip jar that could be added to individual profiles, and ever…

As I often do in the days before Passover, I’m thinking of the women without whom we not only wouldn’t have the Passover story, we wouldn’t have Judaism: Yocheved — Moses’ mother, who hid him; Shifra and Puah — the midwives who refused to kill the male Hebrew newborns; Miriam…

One night at the dinner table my kids asked which I like better: Star Wars or Star Trek. I demurred; they insisted; I insisted I couldn’t possibly; “no, Mom, it’s a desert island, you have to-” “Oh, well then,” I said. “Firefly.” When Firefly premiered in 2002, I was busy…

On May 27th, when I’d been in isolation with mild COVID-19 for 71 days — a period during which I experienced constant low-grade fevers along with a battery of other standard symptoms, including respiratory distress; constant, often debilitating fatigue; g/i issues concerning which I will not overburden you here; and…

America is reeling from its losses. Mourners aren’t able to find comfort in rites & rituals; we can’t hold those mourners in their grief. For many, sympathy notes will be the only memorial they get or can participate in. Those notes can be hard to write; here’s a thread with…

One day, five months into the presidency that threatens even now to undo the American experiment, I heard someone on the radio sing “there can’t be more of them than us, there can’t be more,” and burst into tears. I was in my car, maneuvering an entrance onto the I-290…

Want to listen along as you read? Click here for the playlist on Spotify. Very early in his career, Jason Isbell revealed himself to be an uncommonly empathetic songwriter. Almost immediately after joining the Drive-By Truckers, he wrote “Decoration Day,” a track that places the listener not just in the…

Want to hear the radio show in question? You’re in luck! An hour of pure dreams-come-true, in three parts: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 What are your dreams? Like: Dreams-dreams. Dreams so fantastical, so far outside the walls of your actual lived-life, that you never actually dream them. …