Tied down and forced to read crap they hate — I spend an inordinate amount of time on reddit, an online sewer or worldwide gem-studded conversation, depending on your point of view and what you choose to read there. Medium has its share of writers and earners who are so far above the rest of us hoi polloi that they…

Not the one the curly-haired kid used to sing about. I’ve read that Bologna doesn’t draw the number of tourists that other Italian cities do. It is certainly quiet relative to Milan, Florence, or Rome; not just because this is only May. Rick Steves has given Bologna very short shrift…

An exercise in extreme privilege. So my best friend Mary and I are fortunate enough to be in Italy for much of this month. We chose to come north, as neither of us had experienced it other than her…

A slip of the tongue tells the story of the Texas spring. In her book A Homemade Life, Molly Wizenberg reports on a slip of the tongue a friend of hers made. She meant to say, Spread like wildfire, but came up floral instead. We have both in our state…

I’m trying really hard right now not to read the writing on the wall. So as you all know, my best friend Mary and I have planned for months to spend May in northern Italy. We have visited Rome and Florence more than once, and so thought we might catch…

What did Lincoln say about trying to please all of the people all of the time? — So the mask mandates fall like bowling pins, with some help from Trumpian judges. Maybe I’ll be the only one masked on the plane in a couple of weeks. Lucky, I am too old to care what anybody thinks. Since day one, people have been claiming that the government doesn’t…

Do you even know what’s happening? A rant. Might as well get my pissing-up-a-rope done early today, as I have errands to run. I am in Texas, a world leader in worsening the existence of anyone who is not a white “Christian” male or so deluded by white “Christian” males…

All emotions are worthwhile. Some just cost us more than others. Note: Ella is not wearing a chain around her neck. Her phone number has been squiggled out, that’s all. People let us down. There are no two ways about it. We’re human, they’re human, everybody has their own mind…

From what I’m reading, few people ever get it right. Maybe because real-life clapping for me makes me very self-conscious and wishful of disappearing into a hole in the floor, I do not understand the kerfuffle over Medium claps. Maybe someone could tell me what they signify in real life. …