Maybe you’ve heard the old saying about teachers not being competent enough to actually do the thing they’re teaching. After all, the logic goes, if someone is proficient at their craft, why would they forgo fame, acclaim, and the ability to purchase frighteningly expensive houses just to slum it as a teacher? The horror. I […]
Teachers and Doers, or: Those Who Can Do May Also Do Teaching Read More »
Paul Westerberg of The Replacements famously wrote, “Growin’ old in a bar, ya grow old in a bar” in his 1985 song “Left Of The Dial.” I spent fourteen years of my life proving him right in an effort to become a successful musician. When I first started playing out in clubs, MTV had just
Rock N’ Roll Ghosts Read More »
Key West’s physical beauty draws tourists like a magnet, but the locals, or Conchs, give the island heart. The Conchs are people who have always been there or who have broken free from the centripetal pull of the Lower 48. In one sense, they live in a different country of their own creation, one that epitomizes the
Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, and the Ghosts of Key West Read More »
Whether people are beautiful and friendly or unattractive and disruptive, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and be happy is equal to one’s own. Now, when you recognize that all beings are equal in both their desire
The Dalai Lama on Compassion Read More »
A sophomore in high school, I got my first job at a second-hand bookstore a few blocks west of the Northwestern University campus. I mainly dusted and straightened the innumerable old books of all sorts, took in money and made change, and cleaned up the place on Saturday mornings. That last task was the vital
Melville’s Pale Ravener Read More »
When I was in my twenties and living in New York City, I decided to impress my new boyfriend by serving Julia Child’s classic dish boeuf bourguignon in my apartment, which sat on the third floor of a dingy tenement walkup with a tiny and outdated kitchen. Some relevant facts: I was not a very