Around Here

I t rains almost daily now, as is the tropical way come May. There's even a "storm statement" at the bottom of the TV screen as we speak. I think a "statement" is just below a "watch" but above an "intimation." Tomaters, yes!  Can't live without them, and can't live without them. A couple of my neighbors grow them out back. I think one of them is what is called an "heirloom." The tomato, not the neighbor. We try and get them before the birds do. The tomatoes, not the neighbors. I like the "Campari" ones at the farmer's market, sweet scarlet ping-pong balls, sliced in thirds, for my salad. We're treating my face, one side at a time, for solar keratosis. My skin is not as Mediterranean as I thought. It's a kind of chemical burn that makes me feel like the Phantom of the Opera, with leprosy, but without the mask. I was reluctant to go out in public at first - but screw that. Then I was amazed at how friend...

I n his novel “When we were orphans” Kazuo Ishiguro describes an old Shanghai in which people shove each other out of the way with scarcely a second thought. Nobody is offended. They take it in stride. I like this bumper-car ethos. What’s wrong with a friendly little push? It shouldn’t be limited to basketball courts and white sales at Filene’s Basement. Maybe I’ll get the ball rolling with art galleries and museums. See how it goes over. People stand for way too long in front of Vermeers I want to see.

I was listening to NPR, science Friday, in my car. Anthony Fauci was on and must have said, in reference to a medical treatment, “modality” or “modalities” at least once in every other sentence. He really likes that word. But wouldn’t “mode” have been sufficient? People like extra syllables. Especially “ality and alities”. I heard a commentator on minority culture recently say “commonality” a couple of dozen times. She really liked that word. The frequentality was striking. Did you know that having skills will no longer get you anywhere? You need skill sets. It takes a lot of gut sets to confront the challenges of the world these days. This reminded me of something my friend Cathy, who teaches elementary school kids, said. “There are certain words that kids like to say. Lady Gaga is really popular.” She recounted a conversation between two second-graders she overheard recently: “I really like the new Lady Gaga record.” “Lady Gaga?” “Yes, Lady Gaga. “I don’t know if I’ve heard the ...