Lori Duff Writes
It had to be 1982, which would have made me 12, when my parents went off, perfumed, cologned, and dressed up, to their 20th high school reunion. They came back later that evening in a gossipy post-mortem, all a-twtitter that some of their classmates had become grandparents. The ones who had kids right out of…
I went home again. I got off the plane, and the smell hit me in the face with the force of a Mike Tyson punch. There was garlic there in large measure, and jet fuel – sure, it was an airport. There was an overlay of stale B.O. and car exhaust, and a hint of…
Do you prefer physical pleasure or mental pleasure? Being in possession of a human-type body like I am, there is some routine maintenance that needs to be done. Most of that maintenance is not particularly pleasant. It can be invasive, uncomfortable, or downright painful. Yet I persist, partly out of a desire to survive with…
Takeoff (Seth Walker) So, I have to confess: I don’t usually read “thrillers” that promise “non-stop action.” This is because my life is about as thrilling and full of non-stop action as I can handle, not because there is anything wrong with the genre itself. I don’t like my entertainment to be stressful. I like…
For reasons I do not care to get into right now (though trust me, everyone is fine now) I have spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms lately. These are odd little microcosms of society that have not been studied sufficiently by trained sociologists. Therefore, I took it upon myself to make some…
I Think I’m Funny I have this absolutely non-humorous, borderline boring, slightly academic theory on humor, which is that laughter is the pinnacle of mindfulness. That is, when you are laughing, you are entirely in the moment in which you are laughing, and completely unaware of physical and emotional pain or distress, or anything else…
How to Stop Time “How to Stop Time” by Matt Haig is one of the more interesting and unique books I’ve read in a long time. It tells the story of Tom Hazard, who suffers from a condition called “anageism” – which means that his body doesn’t age at a normal pace, and he is…
The month of June is known in the United States for many things, among them, the fact that it has been designated Pride Month, to commemorate the Stonewall Riots in NYC in June of 1969. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer [LGBTQ] community calls it “Pride” Month to contrast with the shame they are…
If you find yourself heading to Atlanta and you post something on social media like, “Going to the ATL – where should I eat?” 9,999 out of 10,000 people who reply will tell you to go to the Varsity. The Varsity is a fast food joint, I guess, in that it serves hamburgers and hot…
My Dad is in the hospital. This, naturally, is cause for alarm, and I worry. My parents live 600 miles away from me, so it isn’t so easy for me to just go and check as often as I’d like. The older my parents get, the more I fret about each thing that occurs. Every…