Evanston RoundTable, April 14, 2021 Imagine a day dedicated to being nice. They could call it, “Don’t Be a Jerk Day.” One day a year everyone has to be jerk-free, has to restrain their Inner Jerk. The other 364 they can be as big of a jerk as they want. Ridiculous? Well-intentioned as it is, Earth Day has a similar issue. The implication is that on the other 364 days we can ravage, despoil, and desecrate our planet. Of course that’s ridiculous too, no truer than imagining we could treat our own homes like that. But the Earth is our home. Turns out other people agree. For years neighborhood groups have organized periodic clean-up campaigns in City parks. And now there’s not just Earth Day but Earth Week and Earth Month. April is Earth Month and April 18 to 24 – which encompasses April 22, the original and annual Earth Day – is Earth Week. In connection with this heightened environmental awareness the City of Evanston has launched a “Reduce Waste Challenge,” which includes composting, reducing trash, monitoring water usage, and more. There are additional components every week of the month. Check out the details at https://www.cityofevanston.org/about-evanston/sustainability/earthweek In addition, the … Continue reading →

Evanston RoundTable, March 18, 2021 I emailed this recently to my dear friend Fran: 1. Somehow my Apple ID got screwed up. 2. Many Apple phone calls and technicians later, it cannot be fixed without… 3. Appointment Friday afternoon at Apple store to wipe clean phone & computer & restore both to “factory settings.” I liken this to a double lobotomy, or possibly an Ishiguro novel. 4. I’m transferring my phone calendar to a paper calendar in case they can’t restore my calendar & contacts (and everything else) (God forbid). 5. I notice that I have your birthday on April 24 and April 25. Unless you were born at the stroke of midnight, this cannot be. 6. Please advise. Fran wrote back: “OMG! Everyone’s nightmare :( April 24 is the day.” I’ve known Fran since first grade. We’ve actually drawn closer in the last 20 or 25 years as I always make it a point, when I’m in New York City, to visit her at her upper west side apartment. Many’s the time we’ve gone out for lunch nearby or hiked through Central Park. The thing is, with respect to her sympathetic response to my tech issues, she is currently … Continue reading →

Storied Stuff, Facebook, March 5, 2021 Lately I’ve taken up pipe smoking again. It’s a comforting habit, sitting at one’s keyboard gripping a pipe stem with satisfying resolve and expelling great clouds of white smoke like the Vatican announcing the new pope. It’s also a trifle ridiculous, since no one smokes a pipe anymore. It’s gone out of fashion. That wasn’t the case when I took up the habit in college. Over the years I built up a decent collection including a wonderful meerschaum, the sovereign of pipes. Meerschaums are made from soft white clay and maintain a cool, refreshing smoke right down to the bottom of the bowl. They darken as they age, acquiring a handsome golden patina. Aside from the meerschaum I had perhaps eight or nine other pipes, all attractive and “good smokers.” But then I stopped. I don’t remember when or why. My collection disappeared too. Did I sell it? Give it away? Unlikely, I’m a hoarder by nature. When I resumed pipe smoking a couple of years ago, I had to start a new collection. But somewhere around the house, I suspected, the old pipes were still squirreled away, just awaiting discovery. I even dreamt … Continue reading →

Evanston RoundTable, Feb. 3, 2021 Many years ago a colleague of mine mentioned that his mother had an interesting saying: you should always have more to look forward to than to look back on. At the time I was in my fifties or even sixties, well past the midpoint of my life. The view out the rear-view mirror was growing ever larger and the road ahead ever diminishing. But there was work, children, volunteer projects—in other words, plenty to keep me busy looking ahead. Now I’m halfway through my eighth decade and the rear-view mirror is the size of an Imax movie screen and ahead is a TV monitor shrinking by the week. Yikes. Still, until incapacitation sets in, I believe that no matter how old, there’s always plenty more to gainfully occupy one’s time. At the top of the list should be writing a memoir. There are many reasons why it’s important. For starters, writing is possibly the most wonderful, challenging, and healthy cognitive activity you can do. It engages every ounce of brain matter. As the author Russell Banks says, writing makes you the best person you can be, by tapping all your skills of imagination, discipline, and … Continue reading →

Luck has given me a passport to enjoy life, which I have been lucky enough to use to the fullest. Evanston RoundTable, Jan. 6, 2021 On New Year’s Eve I celebrated my 75th birthday. Being in general good health and good spirits, keeping busy but not overburdened with one fun thing and another, enjoying the friendship of good people from every stage of my life, and being close in proximity and devotion to my family, it was a day of great enjoyment. So-called “big birthdays” like three-quarters of a century are both eventful and mundane. They are “just another day” if viewed as the 27,393rd of them; or a fluke of our numbering system which in say a base-12 arrangement would have no special meaning at all. But of course we don’t signify our lives by the day or divide it by base-12: it’s years, and 75 is a big, round number of them that can’t help but inspire big, round thoughts. The biggest of which was: how lucky I am. Lucky to have been the child of caring, responsible parents who nonetheless left me alone to make my own way in the world. Lucky to have grown up in … Continue reading →