Writing
ARTS & LETTERS
My writing often spills out during times of change—joyous, sad, ambivalent. Sometimes it's an essay, other times a poem. If something resonates with you, good or bad, I hope you'll let me know.
A Walk in the Park
Somewhere in the assembly process, God forgot my neck. Crew necks fit like turtle necks, and turtle necks come up to my chin. God failed to give me a button nose, too. It’s more like a proboscis. A perfect word, prrrrrrrrobosssssssscis. Long, unwieldy, and uncouth.
What’s with the Flying Pigs?!
The idea of driving a station wagon horrified me. But there I was, behind the wheel of a four-door mom-mobile replete with two car seats carefully fastened in the passenger row.
Inevitably, the dreaded question arises.
Perhaps at a party or maybe during a walk in the park. “So what do you do?” And suddenly, I’m at a loss for words.
Subliminal Possibility
In the northern hills of San Diego lies Rancho Bernardo, a master-planned community dating back to 1962. Signs bearing aspirationally-named subdivisions like Playmor and Fairway Vistas welcome its residents with subliminal possibility. As I drove my Project-19 route through this carefully manicured community, I wondered... whose dreams had faded enough to need a humble box of groceries laid upon their doorstep?
In Memoriam
Not a “t” failed to be crossed nor an “i” dotted in the remarkable life of my mother, Carolyn Eleanor Taffel. No doubt this reflection is replete with grammatical inefficiencies and would have been far more concise and elegant were she here to write it.
Karma and the Curse of the Cogniscenti
Recent political events fuel my desire to understand the cultural divide that threatens to destabilize our country indelibly. And so I turned to Charles Murray’s prophetic 2012 book, Coming Apart, which suggests that our current political climate was ignited, in significant part, by a growing cultural disconnect between the “cognitive elite” and the rest of the country.
Passion Over Pursuit
As college early action and early decision envelopes arrive, my hardworking and earnest seniors will meet one of three fates: acceptance, deferral or the dreaded denial. I find this incredibly painful to watch because often the results do not positively correlate with their effort, nor the mythos of the “perfect candidate”.