#95 / I Survived Everything
In which he discovers a title for his newsletter.
#94 / Some Very Difficult News
I used to really enjoy sarcasm. I still do, but I used to, too. (Hat tip to Mitch Hedberg.) The title of this email is, unfortunately, not sarcastic. Not...
#93 / Poems While You Wait
I've been invited to join a poetry collective! It's called Poems While You Wait¹—the group sets up shop at event spaces and writes poems for people on...
#92 / Time Flies
It is finally springtime in Chicago—more or less. It's warm out most days, but only if you're walking in the sun. My mom was recently in town and we visited...
#91 / Helping
Thoughts on difficult things in the news, and an announcement
#90 / Phone Problems
In which getting a new phone becomes weirdly emotional; plus, a cool metaphor
#89 / Hello Again
The problem when I don’t write for a while is that life just keeps happening. And the more things there are to write about, the less likely I am to write,...
#88 / Favorite Pastimes
Our caterpillars are back for Year 3! Officially, the pillars are our Pandemic Project™️. We've learned a lot from our experience thus far, and our operation...
#87 / Mothers' Day
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! And to everyone. I’ve just learned from the historian Heather Cox Richardson that the original version of...
#86 / Blossomings (Attempt No. 2)
I sent this last week, and several people reported that it went into their spam folders. I apologize if you've already read this—if so, please proceed with...
#85 / What To Do On Boxing Day
Until recently—okay, until this morning—I thought Boxing Day had something to do with the sport in which people pummel each other inside a ring. And I...
#84 / Self-Portrait
I saw Rembrandt walking down the street. I was sitting on my porch, watching the wind blow leaves down from the trees across the way. He was heading up to...
#83 / Pacific Daydream
Welcome to a special mid-week edition of the newsletter! It’s been a busy couple weeks of traveling and hosting family and friends, and we’ve got another...
#82 / Everybody Dreams
This is the first year I can remember where the first day of fall actually felt like the first day of fall. The temperature dropped ten degrees and it was...
#81 / Ask Me, Ask Me, Ask Me
I took the “L” train to my dermatologist appointment in downtown Chicago this week, and I took the bus back. This is remarkable only because I’m finally...
#80 / A Send-Off
We got home late last night from a quick trip to Omaha for Yom Kippur, thus the email lateness. The first thing we did when we came into the house was to...
#79 / Renewing Intentions
This morning we returned to Hollywood Beach to participate in a tashlich ceremony for LGBTQ+ and interfaith couples. Tashlich is a Jewish custom that you...
#78 / Important Bird Area
Despite living near the lake and despite our growing fascination with birds, we've never visited Montrose Point Beach and Bird Sanctuary. The middle day of a...
#77 / Living in Color
This weekend we did our first Beach Day in Chicago. We’ve been to the beach, and sat on benches at the lakefront, and all that stuff, but we never actually...
#76 / Lower the Bar
I’m working on a long writing project. I’ve been reluctant to mention this here, because it’s longer and more difficult than anything I’ve attempted before....
#75 / The Bliss Station
Last week I told a story about my journey to morning person-ness. The end of one journey is often the beginning of another. It’s one thing to admit to myself...
#74 / Rise And/Or Shine
My friend Renée sent me this cheeky “ode to non-morning people” by The Atlantic’s James Parker. It’s a really clever and delightful bit of writing, and it...
#73 / Don't Mess With Mother Nature
Hey everyone, Visiting some friends last weekend and deciding on a movie to watch, we were leaning toward Twister. Scanning through Netflix, however, we ran...
#72 / Flowers With Spinning Blossoms
Hey everyone, Ever since I read Richard Brautigan’s poem, “All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace,” I’ve been smitten with the man. This month I...
#71 / In the World
Hey everyone, Today is the one-month anniversary of my eye surgery! What a strange month it has been. It took a couple weeks before I felt confident enough...
#70 / Vacation #2
Hi everyone, It has been a great vacation, and busy-in-a-good-way. So I'm going to save the details for next week. In the meantime, here is a visual sneak...
#69 / Vacation #1
Hey everyone, I am on vacation this week, and as such, for the first time, I am not producing a "real" issue. But I figured I'd at least drop you a line to...
#68 / Epithelium Goals
Hey everyone, Well, I am recovered from my laser eye surgery last week, but my vision is still going to take time to reach its ultimate quality. Which means...
#67 / Out of Sight
Hey everyone, Hello from the past! I am writing this on Thursday, because on Friday I will be undergoing a PRK procedure (Update: It went well!). If you’re...
#66 / Firsts
Hey everyone, This was quite a week of since-the-pandemic-began firsts! First ride on the “L” First baseball game First graduation party Obviously it’s not...
#65 / One Great Floral Arrangement
Hey everyone, Over the first half of 2021, I’ve been enrolled in an introductory online course in Jungian analytical psychology, through the C.G. Jung...
#64 / The Wall of Awful
Hey everyone, Every Sunday, I write out some of the tasks I want or need to accomplish during the week. The first thing I do is inspect my list from the...
#63 / Branching Out
Hey everyone, I can’t tell you how nice it feels to start doing normal-life things again. The pandemic is not over, and I really hope that countries like...
#62 / Why Jews Need to Talk About Palestine
Heads up: this is slightly longer than what I normally write here, and it’s also pretty heavy. Neither of those statements should be read as an apology; just...
#61 / Saying Goodbye
Hey y’all, We just arrived home after a ten-hour drive back from northern Minnesota, so this will be brief. Ashley’s grandmother, Ann, passed away at her...
#60 / The Best Way to Improve The World
Hey everyone, When it comes to how I invest my time, there’s this pattern I engage in. I have a lot of different interests, a lot of groups I’d like to be...
#59 / Road Tripping
Hey everyone, I drove home safely from Omaha on Friday, and I listened to several more episodes of the History of English podcast along the way. One of my...
#58 / Weekly Gods and Goddesses
Hello and greetings from Omaha, I am in town to visit my family for the first time in 17 months, and it is nice to be back. The drive in from Chicago was...
#57 / Short Cuts
Hey y’all, My second vaccine shot is in the books! As I understand it, this now makes me invincible against all disease, and also impervious to ice falling...
#56 / The Whole Enchilada
Hey everyone, I was listening to the Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime this week when I realized I had never seen a picture of Mike Watt before....
#55 / Don't Be a Guy
Hi everyone, Today is my birthday! It has been a very nice birthday, even though none of the basketball games are going the way I want them to go. I got...
#54 / Time to Breathe
Hey y’all, To be honest, I was reluctant to write about this, because I didn’t want to feel like I was bragging. But I also want to set a good example, and...
#53 / March 11, 2020
Hey all, Considering the college basketball season was cancelled last year and we never got a March Madness, which is one of my favorite things in life, I...
#52 / Fox in Lox
Hey everyone, Last spring I mentioned a workshop I was enrolled in, where the idea was to bring together a bunch of people working in different creative...
#51 / Pandemic Psychology
Hey y’all, So many people I’ve talked to over the last few weeks have reported that February’s been a slog. I have felt this, too. It seems to take extra...
#50 / On the Journey
Hey everyone, We are traveling in the Minnesota Northwoods this weekend, so this will be a shorter edition. It is surprisingly warm, if you consider 30...
#49 / A Certain Ease
Hi all, I attended a Zoom funeral service this week. It was as beautiful as is possible for a service on Zoom to be. My aunt Ruth (Paperny) Luttbeg died at...
#48 / Bohemian Rhapsody
I don’t care for Paris. That sounds ungodly pretentious, I know. Paris is a fine place–I was lucky enough to visit it for a couple days, when I was...
#47 / What Do Hasidic Swordfighters and Thurgood Marshall Have In Common?
Hey everyone, What do Hasidic swordfighters and Thurgood Marshall have in common? They're both in my newsletter this week. I’m coming to you this week from...
#46 / The King
Hey y’all, Did this feel like a very long week to anyone else? I was even lucky enough to have the day off work on Monday for Martin Luther King Day, and it...