ANTAGONISM


Middle-aged heavyweight woman with five o’clock shadow pushing a loaded babushka cart and wearing some kind of schmatta on her head spit at me and then mumbled something in Russian as I jogged by her. Sources tell me it was either an ancient curse or a killer recipe for borscht. Not to be outdone, an…
Many of my Italian relatives lived in North Beach when they first immigrated to America over a hundred years ago. I’ve been going there ever since I was born. And each time I’ve gone— including my most recent trip a few months ago— that hollow muscle inside my chest gives me that first-love feeling. And…
FAUST by Goethe — Part 1 (first published in 1808) I’ve been rereading the David Constantine translation during these dark times and have concluded that we are being ruled by a Faustian character who has made a pact with the Devil disguised as Capitalism. Click on the audio file above and listen to me read…
[/caption]As I sit here with what I imagine to be the flu, I think of things, you know, dumb stuff to do. Like read or write or look at the light, Try not to think, ‘I’m dying!’ with all my might. I came across this in the New York Times: Three noted writers of music…
“There is a very real relationship, both quantitatively and qualitatively, between what you contribute and what you get out of this world.” ― Oscar Hammerstein II Yesterday was Giving Tuesday, when not-for-profits asked you to give $5, $10, $20 — whatever you could spare. Giving Tuesday happens before Whacky Wednesday, when the holiday shopping season…