I don’t have to tell you that front page headlines are reporting how students across the country are protesting. Universities are struggling with how to respond. The university I got my (five) diplomas from, Columbia University, seems to be making some of the biggest headlines. A few days ago it decided to cancel its commencement. I started college in 1988. Many students then opposed Apartheid. I boycotted businesses that did[…] Keep reading →

I think I mentioned that cleaning out my dad’s basement led to discovering a few boxes in which he stored some of my stuff without telling me, so I found a bunch of things I hadn’t seen in some cases since the 1980s. It may be tempting for some people just to throw things away. Some of the things I found included tennis balls from when I took tennis lessons,[…] Keep reading →

About twenty-four hours after giving blood, while chopping collard greens, I chopped a bit off my finger. Sorry if it’s gross for you, but it reminds me of something I learned when I dated a woman who was a chef: if you cook enough, you cut and burn yourself. I don’t know if this picture captures it. I took it today, about twenty-four hours after cutting it. I should have[…] Keep reading →

I gave blood today. The medical system never ceases to shock me with its needless waste, senseless rules ostensibly based in safety but clearly not, and mindlessly following those rules without question. For context, I met an NYU researcher, Cassandra Thiel, who researched and published on comparing an operation performed in two hospitals, one in the UK, the other in India. The Indian hospital impacted the environment five percent—that is,[…] Keep reading →

The temperature yesterday approached 80F (26.5C) and was in the low to mid 70s (23-24C) today. That means my neighbors are going to start using their air conditioners. As best I can tell, several of them turn them on in May and turn them off in September or October. The street constantly sound like air conditioners. Sound pollution is pollution. Regular pollution is pollution too, and air conditioning provides plenty[…] Keep reading →

Longtime readers may remember my op-ed piece in the Village Sun: It’s Time to Ban Single-Use Packaging: The Village Sun published my op-ed piece. The Sun is one of my local papers and I find it covers local news that matter but the big papers miss. All communities would benefit from local journalism like it. I mentioned in past posts how people approach and ask what I’m up to, which[…] Keep reading →

I recently finished Bruce Springsteen’s memoir Born to Run. Below is what resonated with me and motivated me most: Bruce Springsteen wrote in his memoir Born to Run about discovering the guitar growing up in a working-class New Jersey neighborhood. The day after seeing Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show, “I convinced my mom to take me to Diehl’s Music on South Street in Freehold. There, with no money to[…] Keep reading →