Try to disappear
My mother’s standard answer when complimented on her cooking was, ‘I just use good recipes.’ As though, with the right recipe, tasty food just makes itself.
Chron us
My nephew drives his invention, pictured here, around southern California, for no apparent reason. Were he selling busses, boats or amusement, he’d have the perfect schtick. Crazy contradiction gets our attention.
His cousin, new college grad, went from cap and gown to shirt and shoes in a day, writing code for a midwest start-up. He loves his job but sometimes wishes he’d majored in design, a place he gets lost in.
Word is
Words can be toys. Children’s books bank on the likes of those who thrive on words like mugwump and quoz.
‘The idea that language is beautiful and strange and that you can play with it is very appealing for children, and also very important.
Catherine Bohne
Imagination dust up
‘You don’t start at the top if you want to find the story. You start in the middle, because it’s the people in the middle who do the actual work in the world.'
Malcolm Gladwell, What the Dog Saw
A few grains
A younger man approved my then long hair, telling me he wished women wouldn’t cut their hair the minute they reached a certain age.
Swiss minarets notwithstanding
Here’s the church. Here’s the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people. Child’s play back in the day, with not a minaret to be seen.
Nearly 58 percent of Swiss voters put the nix on minaret building and the kibosh on religious tolerance. Of course, it’s never that simple.