Greg Triggs, Boy Receptionist
“Promise me you’ll be as well behaved as you’ve ever been.” When am I badly behaved? “Okay. Why?” “Your grandma has a doctor’s...
I Hereby Resolve
In the last week or so I’ve heard a lot of people trash New Year’s Resolutions. Several friends have called them, “Stupid.” To each their...
The Man Who Invented Outdoor Christmas Lights
I don’t know it yet, but this Christmas will be my most memorable. It starts in December, the day before the first snowfall of the year....
The New Me
THE NEW ME It was impossible to get Twinkees, McDonald’s hot apple pies, donuts or ice cream in Madison, WI between 1972 and 1983 because...
Once a Nerd
You never know to what your skills will be applied, do you? I was recently teaching a workshop I helped edit, on physics of all things. ...
SAM I AM WHAT I AM
Sam Singhaus died last night. Too soon. Too painfully. Unfairly. Sammy wasn’t one to dwell on the pain of life. Joy was his domain. When...
Manfred the Mitzvah, an excerpt from my new novel, "That Which Makes Us Stronger"
Butch has started school, but not with me. He’s on the other side of town, in something called a temple. So now mom picks me up at...
The Unexpected Heroes of Christmas
It’s mid-December on a snowy Saturday, 1970-something, in Madison Wisconsin. My sister Valerie is home from boarding school. She’s...
Ham
Teachers. Classrooms. Standardized testing. No child left behind, supposedly. All aspects of a conventional education. But here’s the...
Mickey Mouse & Grandpa Sam
My mom was nearly 4 years old when Mickey Mouse was first presented to the world. Her father, Salvatore Fiore, Americanized to Sam, was...
