Jose Emilio’s cheese cutting was unlike that of others. According to the ancient Sanskrit texts, there are three levels of “malodorous emissions” that can afflict the unenlightened human condition. The first is reminiscent of a stifled trumpet or clarinet. The yogis and saduhs referred to…
My friends who live in big cities have little understanding of the great middle of this country. This is not the greatest failing in the world, perhaps, but it’s a failing nonetheless. There are terrific and fascinating places and people on every square inch of…
On my last visit home to Florida, on convalescent leave from Walter Reed, limping and wounds still seeping, I’d made the mistake of staying with my mother – she with the guilt rays emanating from her eye-sockets. Her guilt rays had doubled in power. She’d…
There was always something wrong with my twin brother, some little kernel of not-right. Chess knew it. And he knew that whatever was wrong with him didn’t apply to me. Being a twin is supposed to mean never being alone. We dressed alike, were crammed…
1. a hookah bar is opening in our neighborhood and we young toughs flick our butts at the Coming Soon! front window shout while we smoke in the American way and burn and burn and burn 2. even now I cannot see her smile without…
I may have found my home here in Wisconsin. As I travel I-90 and I-94, cheese and meat shops appear on the horizon every now and again. Everything is called a Haus. Cheese Haus. Sausage Haus. When I see two on the same exit, I…
Once upon a time there was an academic department at a Midwestern University that recruited international graduate students into is master’s degree program. The program was successful and, at the end of the summer of 2011, brought in a promising student to teach and study…
I’m steering the red SUV through endless Ohio towns. Roads are closed in a flurry here right now. The last months of construction have got me detouring through towns I’ve never seen before, and I’m turning around in many nice driveways when I miss those…
It’s 7 pm or so after I check into the Hampton Inn in Battle Creek, Michigan. When I drove in earlier, I was knocked out to see about 30 vintage cars in the parking lot, Fords, Chryslers, all primo condition, detailed, etc. A big sign…
As a child, I was a typical, overfed, pasty and underexercised american with a lower-case a, with little interest in anything beyond the tip of my nose. The Army, with a capital A, remade me using its not-so-subtle methods. Standing in my new attic home,…
Despite the intent to recast the “Last Sitting,” there are some noticeable differences between the two shoots. The original sitting was shot with a soft white background, which created the illusion of sorrowful innocence, an image that also appeared in Monroe’s films. But what did…
Does anyone remember when smoking was still okay? I hate to be such a nut about this, but I have such a nostalgic streak about SOME of the way things used to be. Not the casual racism and misogyny – don’t get sidetracked by what…
There are only a handful of things that I’m looking forward to from this trip. I’d like to see the Grand Canyon from a helicopter. I’d like to throw a silver dollar into the Pacific Ocean. I’m hoping that I’ll find a cool diner somewhere…