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Tough Question—Maybe the Toughest

What makes life worth living? For me, that question was the most important take-away from Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal—a must-read for anyone who is aging or has aging parents. And it’s a question that is increasingly on my mind. According to Gawande, it’s also a question that every physicians should ask…

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Summer, 1955

Racism is on everyone’s mind right now, mine included. I have lived all my life in a racial monoculture. Except for the childhood experience in the story below, my personal contact with Black people has been casual and minimal.  So, while I’d like to say I’m free of racism and…

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Two C’s

I’ve had a little note beside my computer for several days now: blog post. But there are only two things on my mind, really. The corona virus, of course, and its possible personal and broader social consequences—about which I have nothing to say that isn’t on everybody’s mind anyway. And Jack’s…

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Back in Canada

Beginning with jack’s collapse and seizure a mere week ago, followed by the discovery that his cancer has metastasized to the brain, and the almost simultaneous decision by the Canadian government to call all citizens back to the country in the face of the rapidly developing corona virus pandemic, it’s…

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No luck

Did you try to email a response to my last blog post—as per my instructions? I’m not ignoring you. It still doesn’t work. This may not be fixable, since the message is actually sent by wordpress, not by me. So–if you want to respond, you have to do so in…

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In the Knickers of Time

My relationship with time is becoming increasingly weird. I don’t know how to measure its passage anymore. I have middle-aged children and young-adult grandchildren, but I’m pretty sure I just turned forty a few weeks ago and Y2K was yesterday. This morning Jack wandered out of the shower and mumbled…

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Words from the Sixties (in a weird alphabet)

I’ve just spent a delightful couple of evenings with my dad, who’s been dead for the last 35 years. No, not a séance. A collection of letters he wrote over a three-year period in the 1960s. So for the second post in a row, I’m writing about Dad—in part because…

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Parcel Post

I’ve had this photo in my memory for a long time, but I never had a copy of it. It still hangs in the Lemont, Pennsylvania post office. At a recent family gathering, we ended up chatting about my dad and his role in securing a new post office for…

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