I’m writing a novel about sleep, and so lately I’ve been trying to understand my dreams. A novel about sleep may sound like a yawn, but at the moment I’m finding it eye-opening. I’ve also been reading a bit of Freud and a bit of Jung, but a little of either analyst goes a long […]
Tag Archives: The Sandcastle Girls
You know your moral compass is a little off when you censor a story about a gift to a U.S. president from a group of orphans — even though that story makes your grandparents and great-grandparents look like Mother Teresa. But this is essentially what the White House Visitor Center did for six days in […]
A woman I met last month in southeastern Turkey is going to die, probably sometime soon. Asiya’s death will not be covered by any news service, and for all but a few people in her small village of Chunkush, she will not be missed. Even the relatives who love her will probably think to themselves, […]
The other day we had some massive trees cut down in our yard and the fellow taking them down wanted to be sure that he didn’t accidentally incinerate the center of Lincoln by dropping a six-story maple on the lamppost at the edge of our driveway and causing an electrical fire. That would have put […]
IN THE coming days, Armenians around the world will come together to acknowledge what I have come to call “The Slaughter You Know Next to Nothing About.” April 24 marks the 98th anniversary of the night the Armenian religious and intellectual leaders were rounded up in Constantinople — and the start of the Armenian genocide. […]
Rock-and-roll t-shirts? Check. T-shirt cannon? Check. Old family photos? Check. Nine days from today it begins: “The Sandcastle Girls” Lucky ’13 Paperback Book Tour. 13 stops in 13 days in 2013. Please join me! April 14 Fresno, California College State University, Fresno Armenian Studies Program Leon and Pete Peters Educational Center Auditorium (In student rec […]
We are now on the cusp of an M2M world – M2M being the techie shorthand for machine-to-machine, not a typo for candies that melt in your mouth, not in your hand. And while I will always be more interested in a world that revolves around chocolate than I am in a world that spins […]
A couple of weeks ago, I had one of the single most rewarding days of my life: More satisfying than even when I decided there was just no point in ever again frying a grilled cheese sandwich in anything but butter. Here’s what I did: I brought 58 cans of paint from the dirt floor […]
Valentine’s Day is coming, that day in February when we are supposed to buy or wear stripper lingerie to remember the life of a third-century Roman saint who died on the Via Flaminia. In truth, not all couples celebrate with thongs or chocolate or chocolate thongs. As a public service, a few weeks ago I […]
So, the first week of the three-week tour is behind me. I have had the pleasure of meeting nearly 1,200 of you at eight events in three time zones. And, yes, it has been a delight, even when: • I was the only sign of life at the Detroit airport at 2:28 on Friday morning. […]