Columns

Last month, I sat at the kitchen table intently wrapping a birthday present as the sunlight began to fade. My home health nurse sat beside me in the dwindling light, with a piece of tape on her extended finger for when I would need it. “I wish…

I once knocked over our Christmas tree when I was 3 years old. To this day, I’m not proud of it, and frankly, I’m still a little traumatized by it. I was simply trying to get a good view out the bay window to see our neighbor’s…

My parents used to joke that I should’ve been born an American. As a kid, I loved burgers and fries, I was enamored with Disney movies and country music, and I spoke “proper” English better than anyone else in my family. That’s not to say I didn’t love it here…

The other day, my friends and I were talking about our mantras for the upcoming year. I usually start thinking about mine sometime in December, so this conversation was par for the course — something about the darkest month of the year makes me yearn for the optimism of…

I listened to 78,978 minutes of music and podcasts in 2022. Thanks to the popular feature Spotify Wrapped, I and millions of users can look at a summary of our listening habits each year, for better or worse. Some may find my avid consumption of pop albums and…

This year has been unprecedentedly good in terms of media. From season four of “Stranger Things” to the delightfully campy “Our Flag Means Death,” I’ve had no shortage of things to binge. But the highlight has undoubtedly been the renewed interest in “Star Wars.” It started with the six-episode limited…

Last year, my brother and I plotted to round up our respective families for Thanksgiving. It was a daunting effort. Our family branches are scattered over three states, and, as usual, work schedules conflicted. Alas, thanks to some angel intervention and alignment of enough stars, we managed to come together.

My life flashed before my eyes. Or, to be more specific, all the meals I’ve eaten in my life flashed before my eyes. I’d determined with complete certainty that I was lactose intolerant. My symptoms aligned perfectly — namely, I experienced gastrointestinal issues after ingesting dairy products. I’d finally identified…

I tend to attract attention while out in public. It’s not really because I behave in a way that draws attention. It’s just that people in wheelchairs toting a menagerie of medical equipment and an entourage are highly noticeable, whether we want to be or not. Ironically, we stand out…

Does anybody actually like the sound of their own voice? Unless you’re a gifted singer, that was a rhetorical question. I come from a musically inclined family, so they tend to say yes when I ask this question. But for me and many of those outside my family, the answer…