I’d just filled a wine bottle with Malbec and was handing it to a neighbor who was operating the manual corking machine when it occurred to me that wine making is a lot like book writing. I was at the tail end of a whirlwind tour to promote my new book, and I was home […]
It’s October, which means that my local hardware store is offering a discount to shoppers who wear pink, Allegiant Airlines is selling pink drinks and police officers across the country are donning pink badges, all the name of “breast cancer awareness.” Also known as “pinkwashing,” these pink ribbon awareness campaigns allow people to feel like […]
A version of this post first ran in 2013. In 2006, a puppy came to live on a small farm in Colorado. His name was Oskar, and he was the runt of the litter. Oskar was a playful little guy, but on one fateful autumn day, he would learn that he was living in the […]
Fucking cancer. It just killed one of the finest editors I’ve ever known, and the sadness weighs on my heart like an anchor to this terrible world. Cancer also claimed the life of my dear friend Karen Hornbostel. I’ve been thinking about Karen lately, and what she might have thought of Lance Armstrong’s recent comeback. […]
One of the finest editors I’ve ever known has died, and I’m heartbroken. David Corcoran was my first editor at the New York Times, but over the 12 years that I knew him he also became an advocate and a friend. David was kind and supportive like a good dad. His tenor let me know […]
This post first ran on June 16, 2011. It’s on my mind, because this week I’m at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is also at the Aspen Institute and is similar in form to the Environment Forum I discuss in the post. *** I’m not a big fan of conferences. I loathe spending vast stretches […]
It started with a voice mail. I figured it was a wrong number, and didn’t think anything more of it, until I got another call from a guy asking me if this was Orkin Pest Control. I told him it wasn’t and by the way, how did you get this number? “It was the second […]
Oh spring — a time for renewal. I’m finally (mostly) home from book tour, and I’ve been taking a little break from the grind to breathe in and focus my attention on things that replenish my creative energy and make me feel connected and fully present in my place. Perhaps the most soul-nourishing thing I’ve […]