Displaying all posts for privacy

Annecdote: Tea Time

by November 15, 2009 » Add more comments.
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It’s alarming to talk with someone on the phone and realize they suspect you are a liar. This past week I received, via FTD, a belated birthday package—a gourmet basket with some of my favorite things. Like tea, biscotti, and dried apricots. There was a warm message on the card Read more »

‘What Happened to Your Nose?’

by January 31, 2009 » Add more comments.

It’s usually children and foreigners who ask: those who have no sense of propriety or privacy, or those who consider Westerners too uptight about all the wrong things, and, paradoxically, not uptight enough about others. The waiter at the Indian restaurant sympathetically gestures toward his own, toast-colored nose and inquires Read more »

Relax and Open Wide: Dentist vs. Doctor

by October 30, 2008 » Add more comments.

Sometimes when I’m bored and have neglected to tote some reading material—like when I’m standing in line at the supermarket, or waiting for a movie to begin—I indulge in a debate I have with myself: Which do I dislike more: a visit to the dentist, or a visit to Read more »

The Shadow Knows: Watching Superbad with My Son

by April 3, 2008 » Add more comments.

When I was a kid, in the 70s, I used to swipe my older brother’s Mad magazines. A lot of the humor was over my head, but that only added to the allure: This was a peep show into an unknown world, and I was lusting to grow up. One Read more »

In-Your-Facebook

by February 7, 2008 » Add more comments.

I got an email from my friend Sharon this morning. She had recently signed up for a Facebook account and had just been “friended” by someone she didn’t know very well. Actually, she didn’t know him at all. She asked something like, “So who is he? Is he a creep? Read more »