Many years ago, when I was working as a river guide, a little boy accidentally knocked a girl’s front teeth out with his paddle. The girl was in pain, and understandably distraught about losing her permanent teeth, which had only just grown in. But there were still several miles of river left, and we needed her to calm down and get back in the […]
Dear Readers of LWON, Like everyone else, the People of LWON are still adjusting to life with Covid-19, especially those with kids at home, parents at large, and full time jobs, remote and not. We’ll be posting less frequently for a while, but please keep coming to visit every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We’ll keep serving […]
A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile. -Shakespeare, The Winters Tale I still am learning how to behave during a pandemic. Some things are simple: I know that I should wash my hands frequently with soap for at least 20 seconds. I know that I should cancel my social […]
Last weekend, I played a game with my family called Placing the Past. Each player gets cards that describe different historical events. You arrange the cards in the order you think the events happened, then check your guess. I kept wishing the game included more science history, so I decided to make my own, short […]
Tonight I contemplate this head of Romanesco broccoli, soon to be cut up, slathered in olive oil, and roasted. As you can see, its edible flowers, weirdly known as curds, form a pyramid of identical, spiraling turrets. It’s a classic example of fractal geometry: a shape that, like a fiddlehead fern or lightning bolt, can be broken down over and over again into smaller parts, each a […]
“It’s so cute,” said Pete, watching our new robot vacuum cleaner gently ram the kitchen table. After gradually inching past the obstacle, the robot moved haphazardly around the room, missing the most obvious specks of dirt. Pete swept some of the dirt into a neat line in front of the robot, cooing encouragement. I could […]
I’ve already written for LWON once about the power outages that swept California this fall. Soon after I posted that piece, however, I heard from a family that lost power in the midst of a medical crisis, and wanted to share their story. I met this family in 2018, while reporting a story for the […]
This post appeared about a year ago, when I first joined LWON. I’m reposting it now because the Boschian horror that is ice skating season has crept up on me again, and I still don’t have disability insurance. “This is a nightmare,” I said to my boyfriend as we walked up to a skating rink […]