Ten Treasures of Bubblegum Rock

I love hard music. Even when I was a little kid I favored loud drums and screaming guitars over sweet melodies and pretty words. As a teen I listened to MDC, The Circle Jerks, and the Dead Kennedys. As an adult I played the drums in a few bands and wrote songs full of angry, obscene words about shooting people in the face.

However, even the hardest of rockers sometimes need a little sweetness. I have a fairly large collection of sweet R&B ballads, weepy indie rock selections, and even a few soothing classical pieces to connect me to the more graceful side of music. This is all justifiable in the name of eclectic taste. However, there is no amount of rationalization that can really ever erase my shame over my absolute adoration of bubblegum rock. Continue reading →

Did Kathryn Stockett Help Herself to the Nanny’s Story?

A Hinds County, Mississippi Circuit Court Judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Kathryn Stockett as it was filed after the statute of limitations had run out. The suit claims that the author used the likeness and the life story of her brother’s nanny to write The Help without permission. The judge who dismissed the suit did not comment on the claim’s merits. Continue reading →

The Smug Parent Game

Smugness is a key tool in modern parenting. You can’t be any kind of effective parent if you don’t feel morally superior to the parents around you. The good news is that through the right methodologies, you can increase your smugness “account balance”. There’s no need to settle for off-the-cuff parenting when you can lord your superior decisions over other parents.

Your smugness score is based on many factors. Here are some point guidelines. The higher your score, the better your standing among the Smug Parents of the world. Be careful! You can easily lose points by making bad decisions. Continue reading →

The Anniversaries

I got an instant message from one of the young writers in the newsroom yesterday (Saturday).

This one will tear your heart out, she wrote, sending me a cut of a boy, born less than a month after 9/11, speaking in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday — a message to his firefighter father who died on that terrible day. Patrick Mate Lyon told that packed church, and all the cameras and microphones and pens taking notes he wished he could have known his dad. Continue reading →

There Once Were Two Towers…


In 1984, I was working on a show so far off Broadway that the best seats were on the Staten Island Ferry. It closed early, as grad student theater projects tend to do, and we were at loose ends for the rest of the summer.

Quick Beer Bread with Monterey Jack Cheese and Scallions

Earlier in the week when it was gray and rainy I made a batch of chicken curry soup. It was the perfect meal for an early fall day, but soup needs bread – and sometimes you can’t just don’t have time to play around with yeast. So I made an old stand by, quick beer bread. You can make this bread with a lot of interchangeable ingredients including (but not limited to) dill and cheddar, corn and chipotle cheese, or (to go with a spicy curry) monterey jack and scallions. Continue reading →

My 9/11 Experience

September 11, 2001 meant many things to many people.  When it occurred to me that I wanted to write something about that day, I had a hard time coming up with a subject that I felt I could confidently tackle within the confines of this space.  Should I address the war on “tear“, as Bush pronounces the word?  The discrimination imposed on Muslims?  How we started a war against a country that had nothing to do with the attacks based on faulty intelligence?

I had second thoughts on even writing about this subject at all.  Between the news this past Friday being all 9/11, all the time, and the round-the-clock Very Special Episodes of coverage on practically every channel, those doubts persisted.  The supposed “credible threat” about an attack on NY and DC on the tenth anniversary did nothing to ease the media frenzy.  I ultimately decided to just share what the day was like for me.  Continue reading →