A couple updates on last week’s post: First, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign graduate students (members of the Graduate Employees Organization) stayed on strike long enough to end up getting what looks to be a fair deal for themselves. Hats off to them and their supporters, which included their undergraduate students and their counterparts up […]

A few years ago, an architect acquaintance and I were talking about the younger people in our lives. She described some interns she’d employed, their advanced knowledge of technological stuff she and I no longer cared about, and their youthful eccentricities. She wasn’t angry or put out, really, it was a pretty clinical description. And […]

Back in—I think it was early1986—Beth was several months into blindness, and a baby was on the way. And I was out of work. At first, unemployment was by choice. I was home to help Beth in the early months of learning to live in a completely different way. Before she lost her sight, we’d […]

In the wake of everything that happened last week, I have nothing to say that isn’t being said. And I’m kind of exhausted thinking about it, so I’m going to stick to some banal subjects instead. Like plumbers. Roofers. Car repair shops. Dry cleaners. Kennels. Veterinarians. Appliance repair shops and virtually any other service firms […]

Hi all. Well, yes. it’s Tuesday. I committed a cardinal sin: I missed my deadline. In my mind, former editors, bosses, and professors have formed a chorus to chastise me. But I have a note from Beth, who was present at the disaster. On Saturday morning, we headed out for coffee with our laptops in […]