When Izzie was a toddler, she loved Laurie Berkner, the so-called Queen of Kid’s Music. Her kindie rock songs were sweet and fun and always had a monster hook. None more so than Boots, a song about stomping around in – you guessed it – boots. Black boots. Frog boots. Rain boots. All the boots. B-O-O-T-S […]
Growing up, one of my father’s best friends was a man from Venezuela. Year after year, my family attended Los Posadas celebrations at his home. Posadas celebrates the journey of Joseph and Mary and lasts for nine days, culminating in Noche Buena, or the Holy Night of Christmas Eve. I was obsessed by their elaborate […]
As a child, I took piano lessons from a grouchy woman who hated her job. Sitting beside me on the bench, her perpetual stance was eyes closed and jaw clenched, seemingly asking the Sweet Lord for forbearance. The one thing that broke her icy demeanor was the audible sound of cracking knuckles. If I popped […]
“Everything fascinates you, doesn’t it?” Jane smiled. I had just finished explaining about the myth that cracking your knuckles leads to arthritis (it doesn’t). She’s right. Everything does fascinate me. In fact, I want my tombstone to read Be Curious. Just this week, I learned that it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone […]
In 1851, James Abram Garfield convinced the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute to hire him as a janitor in exchange for college tuition. He woke hours before the first classes, took pride in keeping the facilities as clean as possible. By the time he was a sophomore, the college promoted him from cleaning toilets to a […]
Serbian artist Maria Abramovic is known for her provocative, avant-garde performance pieces exploring the limits of body and mind. Her 1974 piece “Rhythm 5” featured a flaming wooden star. After jumping in and lying down in the middle, she promptly passed out from the fumes and had to be rescued. Another piece, 1977’s “Imponderabilia” had […]
