In the perfume shop show window was a large jar of freckle salve, and beside the jar was a sign, which read: DO YOU SUFFER FROM FRECKLES? “What does the sign say?” ask Pippi Longstocking. She couldn’t read very well because she didn’t want to go to school as other children did. “It says, ‘Do [...]
Lady Elaine Fairchilde is the mischief maker in Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Lady Elaine is not a pretty puppet. To be fair, well. . .let us just say she is particularly beauty-challenged. In one episode, Lady Elaine was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said without hesitation, ‘I want to be [...]
Some time ago, I saw a Robin walking down the street. He weighed about nine pounds, I am guessing. “Why are you walking?” I asked him. “Well,” he told me, “I’m trying to get some of this weight off.” “I did notice that you are kind of heavy,” I told him, “but I’m wondering, why [...]
Ryoken, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut, only to discover there was nothing in it to steal. Ryoken returned and caught him in the act. “You may have come a long way to visit me,” [...]
It is a New Year. Per usual, I didn’t get around to making any resolutions. I find it sufficient to dust off my list from last year, and work on the ones I never got around to. Plenty of folk cover the gamut for me on 43things.com. A few I liked this year: Keep a [...]
For the Christian faith, it is Advent, waiting for the birth of the Prince of Peace. With its requisite spat over whether we use Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. What a worthy debate, as we jostle one another, both hands loaded with shopping bags from Macys, Nordstrom and The Gap. I can do December sales [...]
To touch can be to give life. Michelangelo An eleven-year-old girl lived with her grandmother. Labeled “different,” adjustment to school was not easy. Her mother was not a reliable presence. As if life is not tough enough, her father had been recently killed. She knew him only vaguely, but not well and had not seen [...]
My son loves to dance. As soon as Zachary learned to walk, he began to dance. He would spin, hop, and slap his feet on our hardwood floor. Beethoven or the Beatles, he’s not picky about the music. Now almost seven, with his arms in the air, he looks like a cross between a Pentecostal [...]
The shot is true, a low laser, past an outstretched goalie, into the corner of the net. After he scores, Mr. Parker performs a joy unrestrained airborne jig, and bumps torsos with another teammate as the fans dance and cheer, GOOOOOOAL! What makes this story so special? Mr. Parker has only one leg. The other [...]
