This is how we used to make fun of pop music, with the following description: “Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus…chorus, chorus, chorus, fadeout.” That this applied to songs like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Superstition,” and “The Tracks of my Tears” seemed to not matter at all. Intoxicated by college rock smugness, is what [...]

I won’t blame this on Mike Haddad. After all, the meteorological data at his fingertips doesn’t actually amount to a crystal ball or anything. When he didn’t seem all that alarmed on Thursday evening, I decided it was no big deal. My one precaution was to move my wife’s Jeep to the bottom of the [...]

I used to live in a house with a living room that was painted in two colors: stone gray and brick red. Those particular colors, combined with the light coming in from the West, made for a nearly continuously changing display on the wall. The gray walls would take on varying amounts of red, [...]

In this era of the ever-shrinking paycheck, it’s tempting to just hunker down and stay at home with a good book and a cup of hot tea. Or maybe the remote control and a glass of cheap wine is more to your liking? Surely a person can’t be faulted for trying to ease through the [...]