Category: GOOD NEIGHBORS

  • Moonstruck

    Moonstruck

    ​Breaking news from outer space: UFOs are real and aliens are among us. The US government (and I am not making this up) is holding secret, closed sessions to discuss the latest sightings, and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) emerged from official briefings ready to shout the truth from the rooftops. “I was briefed last week on…

  • Who Does That?

    Who Does That?

    I couldn’t stop saying it. “Who does that?”  Rich and I were gazing at messages of hate taped to the front window of a restaurant I’ll call Ballistic Pizza. It felt like that moment in True Detective when they find the serial killer’s lair, lined with blurry photos and insane rants, and somebody gasps, “My God, he really is…

  • He’s Innocent! Really!

    He’s Innocent! Really!

    I’m not saying he’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, but last week Rich was apprehended by police and detained to “help them with their inquiries.” It all started so innocently. Having just returned to California after six months in Spain, Rich took our dusty VW to the local car wash. Ready to head home…

  • Looking for Community in All the Right Places

    Looking for Community in All the Right Places

    ​So far I’ve never been called a “shapeshifting reptilian alien ushering humanity towards enslavement,” but if it ever happens, I hope my response would be as good-natured as that of then-Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand. If you don’t follow the loonier fringe conspiracy theories (and why should you?) you may not be aware…

  • The Power of Book Clubs

    The Power of Book Clubs

    ​They say you never forget your first time. I was a newlywed, newly arrived in Ohio, and felt enormously flattered when a kind acquaintance invited me to join a prestigious book club that had been meeting for more than a century. ​That month’s selection was Madame Bovary, in which a bored 19th century housewife has…