Category: My life

More early than late: The 2024 Dadaist Epic Post-Thanksgiving Poem

I did not publish a Dadaist epic poem shortly after Thanksgiving 2024 as I had in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Perhaps it was too soon after the 2024 elections, when I was not feeling especially celebratory. Or perhaps it was that more pressing matters demanded my attention. Whatever the reason, the inspiration to craft … Continue reading More early than late: The 2024 Dadaist Epic Post-Thanksgiving Poem →

Queer confessions

One night in April 1984, I drove three friends across the Delaware River into Trenton, NJ. There, we ate a meal at Pat’s Diner. I tell a version of this pivotal story in Chapter 10 of my INTERROGATING MEMORY book. I plan to write a longer version soon. To prepare to write this story, I … Continue reading Queer confessions →

My 2025 Personal Film Festival, Part 3 and Conclusion

For Parts 1 and 2 of this series, please see here and here. Just to reiterate, I am not a film critic in the traditional sense, merely an autodidactic lover of film and film history who curated his own, somewhat random, film festival over the first four months of 2025. It began when my wife … Continue reading My 2025 Personal Film Festival, Part 3 and Conclusion →

My 2025 Personal Film Festival, Part 2

For Part 1 of this series, please see here. I reiterate that I am not a film critic in the traditional sense, just an autodidactic lover of film and film history. By the time I finished rewatching Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007), No Country For Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2007) and Nosferatu: A Symphony … Continue reading My 2025 Personal Film Festival, Part 2 →

My 2025 Personal Film Festival, Part 1

On the evening of January 4, 2025, my wife Nell and I watched Saturday Night. Jason Reitman’s 2024 film chronicles the final 90 minutes before the first episode of what is now called Saturday Night Live aired at 11:30 pm EST on October 11, 1975. We thoroughly enjoyed the film’s you-are-there verisimilitude, strong performances and … Continue reading My 2025 Personal Film Festival, Part 1 →

Charting the Second British Invasion: The Singles

Through most of the 1980s, I bought a copy of the music trade magazine Billboard every week. Friends and I pored over its singles and albums charts, seeking insights into that week’s most popular music. I also calculated the top artists each week, as well as the top singles, albums and artists of each year. … Continue reading Charting the Second British Invasion: The Singles →

My 100 Favorite Films…Probably

[Ed. note: This essay was updated on April 1, 2025] On December 1, 2022, Sight and Sound Magazine released the results of its decennial Greatest Films of All Time Critics’ Poll (“SS Poll”). The key result is that Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles dethroned Vertigo as the “greatest film of all time.”[1] … Continue reading My 100 Favorite Films…Probably →

Surrealist Epic Post-Thanksgiving Poem, 2022 Edition

As I first noted here, the following epic poem is technically Dadaist, not Surrealist. For the history of my multi-hour solo post-Thanksgiving-meal cleanup, please see here. As with 2021, despite there being only only five of us (my wife Nell and I, our two daughters and the cousin, an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, who officiated … Continue reading Surrealist Epic Post-Thanksgiving Poem, 2022 Edition →

I Never Wrote the Most Important Story I Ever Wrote, Conclusion

Part 1 of this essay may be found here. Part 2 of this essay may be found here. Part 3 of this essay may be found here. Part 4 of this essay may be found here. Part 5 of this essay may be found here. Part 6 of this essay may be found here. Part … Continue reading I Never Wrote the Most Important Story I Ever Wrote, Conclusion →