Photo essay: Ferro battuto
I was bitten by the blacksmithing bug late in my twenties. It was during a visit to a lovingly [...]
To smoke (or not)
Every time I go to the doctor and have to fill out my medical history, one question gives me pause: [...]
November musings
Fall is haunting. The Hesperian depression can grab you before you've had a chance to turn on your lift-your-mood lights [...]
Spotting Italians abroad
Until last year, I never thought Colombians and Italians had much in common. Then I met an Italian for the [...]
Film: “Kinds of Kindness”
Name a film “Kindness” and some might expect episodes of compassion, generosity, and altruism. But call it “Kinds of Kindness,” [...]
Photo essay: Lens on New York
In my quarterly photo essay, "Lens on New York," I hope to offer a genuine insider's perspective. As a [...]
Wordplay in academe
Gosh, but aren't we humans dazzling apes sometimes! This paragon among animals, with snappy synapses aplenty. And sometimes these brainy [...]
Ships and shipping
Christopher Winner’s recent “Boyhood Empire” series includes many tales of ocean liners. As San Franciscans, ships resonate with us, as [...]
To know and to hurt
Some people, comfortable as they are in their moral straitjackets, believe they know all there is to know about escort [...]
An original thought?
It’s that time of year again. Where I sit in new classes with new people, and I’m supposed to be [...]
A pair of red shoes
It was an August afternoon, almost twilight, in the mid-nineties, and I was sitting on a veranda overlooking the Adriatic [...]