On Justifying Reading Slumps

I do not know at what point reading became an obsession with me. I do know, however, exactly when reading stopped being an obsession with me. Yesterday, at around 11 am EST. It was no startling awakening. Nor was the resultant revelation a portal to Nirvana.I suspect I knew all along that reading was a... Continue Reading →

May 15, 2017 2

The Double Life of my Neighbor’s Son

Luckily my neighbor's son died when he was in his early twenties. His mother was completely devastated. I still remember her helpless wails when the self appointed master of ceremony nodded that it was time to take the body away. It reached an unearthly crescendo. Till a few days earlier his life was consumed with the stock activities... Continue Reading →

March 28, 2016 4

Simulating Poverty – Down and Out in Paris and London

http://www.refugee-run.org/ Exercises like the above beg the question, how far does one have to go before empathizing with a whole section of the world if they have to simulate a refugee run. I personally think it is demeaning and ostentatious. It is not so much the fact that the refugee has to rely on charity that is... Continue Reading →

January 24, 2016 2

Over Thinking Coffee – Thinking Over Coffee

The Daily Walk Every day, stepping out of my house and crossing the road, I pass a coffee shop. It purports to sell Swedish delicacies, Swedish roasts, and anything else the very American-Brooklyn clientele might want for a quick pick-me-up. Caffeine and Sucrose peddlers. At the intersection, once I am confident that I will not be run over... Continue Reading →

May 18, 2015 0

Translation Troubles

I recently read two translations. The originals I know are popular and revered. The Master and Margarita and The Good Soldier Svejk. However, when I turned the last page of each instead of feeling profoundly moved or inspired, all I felt was a vague sense of disillusionment. A sense that compounds when I realize that I can never... Continue Reading →

December 25, 2014 2