Category: Sociology & Psychology
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Present Imperfect
Just after midnight I get out of bed, double-check the calendar, and put the bag on the dining room table. At 5:45am, I search for light and hope I’m not late. My slippers flip-flop on the path in the pitch black. I ring the doorbell, a vision in robe and FrankenHair. Happy birthday to you,… Read more
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The Hartsdale Pet Cemetery
When I was a kid, my brother and I were allowed to choose kittens from the litter of a stray cat. My mother wanted only one cat for the longterm, so she told us that at some future time one of the two would be given away. When that time came, my brother’s cat, Percy,… Read more
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The Invisible Man and His Dog
I hadn’t thought about him for years, the old man with the three-legged dog. That summer I laid interlock and dug beds in my front yard I saw him regularly. He always walked north to south, across the bridge towards the general store, and back again. I mentally catalogued the possibilities of where he might live… Read more
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The Photo Man
Mark Kologi has collected and sold literally millions of forgotten personal photos of complete strangers. Produced & Directed by Ben Kitnick Cinematography & Editing bySaxon Richardson Music byMarkus Rennemann Read more
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Lack
[pullquote]We live in complicated times. We seek, but we don’t necessarily find, the ultimate things we long to experience – contentment, joy, love, inner peace. Our lives are too often overloaded with demands: that we should be successful, rich, beautiful and famous; but this just adds to our inner stress and turmoil. The media constantly… Read more
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Welcome to Quintland
UPDATE: August 5, 2018: Annette visited her birth house in North Bay today. Cecile was supposed to join her but cancelled due to health reasons. The story is here. UPDATE: As of November 19th, 2017, the birth house and museum of the Dionne Quintuplets has been moved to the North Bay waterfront, installed on Oak… Read more
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Staring At Blank Walls
I spent the last two days hanging bits and bobs on my dining room walls. And taking most of them down. Seems the thrill of decorating – the implementation vs. the idea of it – is less a thrill and more a sucker-punch to the head. It appears to involve a disproportionate amount of mental… Read more
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The Best Place on Earth
The more I travel across this country – and abroad for that matter – the more I am dumbfounded by the human ability to choose just one place to call home. There are a hundred magical villages, towns, cities and regions that strike a frisson of excitement in my gut, triggering the feeling that “I… Read more
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Night Wanderings
I’m sweaty, Husband is coughing and hacking, and I can’t sleep. But this is a large house and there are empty beds upstairs. In the blackness of our unfamiliar bedroom I shuffle across the floor, toward the spiral staircase and a sliver of light. The stairs are stone, wedge-shaped, five hundred years old and lack… Read more
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Driving Miss Crazy in Paris
I realize, on Saturday afternoon on the 6th level of the underground parking garage Gare du Nord Paris, that I haven’t driven a standard in three-and-a-half years. Read more