GSK
My smart, lively and beautiful niece Meg posted a Facebook tribute to her grandfather today on the first anniversary of his death. And she did it with a brevity my father would very much have admired: “GSK.” Another… Read More
Jack Lambert and My Investigator
Wayne, my investigator, thinks he is being subtle. He insists on escorting me out of a bad neighborhood whenever we finish a crime scene investigation, and he doesn’t realize I can see him lingering down the street as… Read More
On Eli Manning and Pee Wee League Football
Despite the pedigree, Eli Manning of the New York Giants has never inspired much confidence. To me, the startled look in his eyes in this photograph – like that of a 10-year-old Pee Wee league player who has… Read More
Text for Sarzeau Wedding Ceremony
Congratulations to Daniel and Vincent on a beautiful wedding in Sarzeau, France. My wife presided over the ceremony and, because she had to write down the words in advance so that they could be translated into French, I… Read More
Back From Cape Cod
That’s my brother on the right calling the play. My wife and daughter are to his right. My team was much better.
On Public Protests and Traffic in D.C.
I have complained about the tourists. I have complained about the motorcades. Today my problem in getting across town from where I was (Georgetown) to where I wanted to be (D.C. Superior Court) was caused by two different… Read More
Joyriding With Stanny Bum
Many of the rude words and gestures I know today I learned from driving with my father while growing up. I didn’t learn these things from my father, because I never once heard him utter a bad word…. Read More
Two Poems on Snow
Snow I wake, and think so this is how it comes, no thunder, wind, or windstorm’s violence to rend our lower nature, only a presence. Outlines are familiar: light was present yesterday. Without event the miracle is here…. Read More
The World’s Shortest Poem
If Ernest Hemingway can write an entire short story in six words (“For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn”), the world’s shortest poem must have even fewer words. In honor of my mother’s 86th birthday today, I nominate something… Read More
No You Can’t
If you had to pick one photograph to capture the impact of Barack Obama’s election on the rest of the world, I think it would be this one. Taken by Ibrahim Usta for the Associated Press, the photograph… Read More
