The zero in my hand is nothing to lose

Nineteen. That is the number of times that my old radio movie review show colleague and I have engaged in a yearly showdown to determine which of us is more skilled at predicting the nominees in the six most notable Academy Award categories. Two. That is the number of times we have been equal forecasters, getting the same number of nominees exactly correct. This includes last year, when we each named twenty-four of the thirty nominees. Zero. That is the number of times I have won this annual competition. Again, that number is zero. Nada. Nil. Goose egg. 0-17-2. That … Continue reading The zero in my hand is nothing to lose

Great Moments in Literature

“Also other things, material and immaterial: the relentless glare of OR lights; white shoes squeaking over white floors; a housefly contaminating gauze; and all around me, up and down the halls of Women’s Hospital, individual dramas under way. I could sense the happiness of couples holding first babies and the fortitude of Catholics accepting their ninth. I could feel one young mother’s disappointment at the reappearance of her husband’s weak chin on the face of her newborn daughter, and a new father’s terror as he calculated the tuition for triplets. On the floors above Delivery, in flowerless rooms, women lay … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

I just can’t find the time to write my mind the way I want it to read

A few months ago, in an attempt to perform a smaller version of a “clean sweep” of our house (the pragmatic advice of that one Australian guy employed by TLC continuously rings in our ears) we unearthed an old Ziploc filled with mementos. Finally, after toting this around for years, the time has come to get rid of these stray bits. This means another of my many exercises in closure through nostalgia. So, the collected items were dumped into a handy box– –and then the process begun by pulling them out one by one. These are the first five items … Continue reading I just can’t find the time to write my mind the way I want it to read