Chinese Takeout

Chinese Takeout

For lunch today I went out and ordered some Asian food. Asian is a slippery adjective and one I wasn’t raised to use. As a boy the term was Oriental, and it stood for everything: people, food, furniture, geography, and so on. But today, as far as I understand...
God Bless Me

God Bless Me

For years I have shopped at thrift stores, a habit I picked up in high-school. I prefer shopping in such places for many reasons. The most obvious is financial: the wares in question are cheaper than those purchased new. I also believe that re-using things is cool and...
Off The Cliff

Off The Cliff

Like many of us, my mind of late has been captivated by the negotiations surrounding the so called ‘fiscal cliff’. Sadly, I am terrified of heights and thus have very little real-life experience with actual cliffs to draw pertinent insights from for this...
Mama Truth

Mama Truth

Right now all the news is about Lance Armstrong’s impending confession to illegal doping. Armstrong will make his confession on Oprah Winfrey’s show, and once the episodes finally become public there will be a host of reactions to him: many will berate...
2012’s Best in Irony

2012’s Best in Irony

It’s that time of year when we’re flooded by the ubiquitous Best-Of lists as everyone tries to recap the year’s highlights: best soccer goals, r&b albums, new restaurants, sci-fi films—you name it, it gets measured and ranked. In that spirit I...
Hairy the Second

Hairy the Second

(This is the second installment of a two-part story; if you missed the first section you can get caught up right here). The first thing I noticed about my new barber was his chest: he had one of those concave varieties that looked like someone had once violently...