I see his presidential bid as just another commercial for himself. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were to name the Hamburglar as his running mate.
I noticed my mother’s face assume an expression she reserved for unspeakable horror. I had seen this look only twice before: once when she was caught in the path of a charging, rabid pig and then agai...
I might reinvent myself to strangers, but to this day, as far as my family is concerned, I’m still the one most likely to set your house on fire.
I had paid for my folly and, as a reward, was invited to take part in the nest builder’s performance piece. The script was great.‘When I bleat here, do you want me to just bleat or to really let go an...
I felt betrayed, the way you do when you discover that your cat has a secret secondary life and is being fed by neighbors who call him something stupid like Calypso. Worse is that he loves them as muc...
I cried for it all and wondered why so few songs were written about cats.
Her people undoubtedly drank from clay jugs and hollered for Paw when the vittles were ready — so who was she to advise me on anything?
He secretly thinks he looks like Marlon Brando, but take a good look a young Marlin Perkins is more like it! Maybe that’s what he sees in Annette Kelper—he’s an animal lover.
Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out! It was for many years my family’s habit to drive from North Carolina to western New York State to visit the relatives we had left behind. After spending ten days with my mother’s...
For an American, though, Australia seems pretty familiar: same wide streets, same office towers. It’s Canada in a thong, or that’s the initial impression.
Finally he was hit by a train while walking, which is strange because trains don’t generally sneak up on people. For the most part, barring a derailment, you know exactly where to find them.
Fiecare reuniune are un moment anume in care se sparge. Ajuns la maturitate, mi se intampla de multe ori sa incerc sa identific acest moment, temandu-ma in acelasi timp, de inevitabilul care urmeaza s...
February 16, 1988Reasons to live:1. Christmas2. The family beach trip3. Writing a published book4. Seeing my name in a magazine5. Watching C. grow bald6. Ronnie Ruedrich7. Seeing Amy on TV8. Other peo...
February 13, 1989 Chicago Tonight at Barbara’s Bookstore, Tobias Wolff read from his new memoir, This Boy’s Life.
Do you have a feel for the guitar? Do you have any idea what this little baby is capable of? Without waiting for an answer, he climbed up into his chair and began playing Light My Fire, adding, This o...
Delinquent style is timeless. Real trouble doesn’t walk around with a ponytail. It doesn’t have a Mohawk or special shoelace patterns. Real trouble has a bad complexion and a Windbreaker.
Dad said that the guy who can play guitar is going to be the life of the party. He’s confusing life with death.
Dad followed his I’m-So-Disappointed speech with a lecture on career opportunities. You’re going to study literature and get a job doing what? he said. Literaturizing?
By Thanksgiving I was imagining people naked rather than dead and naked, which was an improvement.
Buy it. This is my sister Amy’s advice in regard to everything, from a taxidermied horse head to a camouflage thong. Just get it, she says. You’ll feel better. Eye something closely or pick it up for...