Articles

"How objects are handed on is all about story-telling. I am giving you this because I love you. Or because it was given to me. Because I bought it somewhere special. Because you will care for it. Because it will complicate your life. Because it will make someone else envious. There is no easy story in legacy. What is remembered and what is forgotten? There can be a chain of forgetting, the rubbing away of previous ownership as much as the slow accretion of stories. What is being passed on to me with all these small Japanese objects?" more »

Who could not admire Elizabeth Edwards? Mother of a dead teenager, cancer patient and political spouse; each role a burden. But when word of her husband’s unfaithfulness hit the news, I wondered why thoughtful and intelligent Elizabeth Edwards would dign… more »

When I received my physical this year, my doctor hesitated during the breast exam, and then moved his hands back and forth between the right and left orbs comparing them, "I’m not sure if I’m just not remembering what your breast tissue feels like, or if I’m noticing a difference. Your mammogram will tell us if anything is there." more »

An eBook just isn’t much fun. Where’s the tactile thrill in holding a plastic object or in fiddling with a screen? For me, only one plastic object could fit into the thrill category and it’s not a book of any kind. But, as Gilda Radner was wont to say “never mind,” this is about books, real books. more »