J.D. Salinger is the literary pimp who brought us such universally appealing expressions as “crummy,” “phony,” and “mean bastards.” If he had not created Holden Caulfield, adolescents the world over would feel far less justified in escaping high school to wander the streets of Manhattan, to pay for prostitutes (strictly for talking purposes), and to [...]

A friend of mine decided to detox from a year of college drinking by spending his year after university living the life of a monk. He took a position as a history teacher at a secluded boarding school in the mountains of Switzerland, far from anything but lovely landscape and a lot of homemade cheese. [...]

There is something about horse races that just seems to bring together dapper, semi-elderly men on Sunday afternoons. At the Hipodromo de San Isidro outside of Buenos Aires I experienced my first horse race. It was a great deal like many male-dominated sporting events the world over—long, slightly boring, anti-climactic, and, since it is winter [...]

I hosted a reunion fête for my oldest friends in the world—the ones who used to accompany me as a twelve-year-old girl dressed in drag parading around the local video store on Friday nights banging on tambourines to attract awkward attention. Our nostalgic slumber party was upgraded from our middle school days of Toll House [...]

I was recently in the somewhat posh position of choosing a print to take home from the Yale University Art Gallery collection. Two dozen lithographs, engravings, and photographs were laid out in the pristine climate-controlled space on the fourth floor of the museum.
Gauche things to do in the Yale University Art Gallery Print Room:

1. [...]

I passed by a gaggle of local New Haven high school kids processing from their hotel prom into limos and yellow school buses. They were en route to the ‘after-party,’ whatever that can entail at age 17 and in shiny synthetic visions in satin reminiscent of Olympic figure skating, TV ballroom dancing, and bridesmaids circa [...]

The kids of my generation can be inordinately absurd, evidenced by the fact that I just used the expression “inordinately absurd.” Instead of being defined by fiery social change and the advent of free love, we are mired in Adderall addictions and trips to the therapist, where we grapple with our ennui, our parents’ divorces, [...]

It’s an abandoned university dorm room in the middle of the night. The place gets eerie at this time of year, when all the undergraduates are gone, except for a few straggling seniors awaiting graduation. My friend is an artist and uses her oversized single as a studio. She says, “It’s great—I keep lumber, and [...]

Sometimes it’s nice to steal things even when it’s not necessary. In fact, rich people are often the most dangerous ones prowling through luxury department stores. I’m sure that Winona Ryder had something other than pinching pennies on her mind when she scooped up 5,000 dollars worth of Marc Jacobs and Gucci items at her [...]

I found a wayward Mother’s Day card soaked and dirty on the streets of New Haven, under one of the flowering trees next to an elaborate wrought iron gate. I am not sure if the card ever made it to the mother, or if it merely fell out of the son’s pocket en route to [...]