Writings/Clips

Crackup at Radio City

"Will the party from the psychiatric wing of New York University Hospital please come to the front desk?"

Up to that moment, I'd been trying my best to blend in with the clusters of Boy Scouts, the nuns in their habits, the tourists escaping the heat. READ MORE

8 Million Stories:
Picture Perfect at the Bronx DMV

CONAN O'BRIEN HAS been comparing L.A. favorably to New York since he landed, way before his recent swipe at nearby Newark's crime rate. Watching a clip from The Tonight Show in a cab, I saw O’Brien riffing on his new L.A. driver's license photo. READ MORE

The Wise Plumbers

LAST December, my 28-year-old son, Joshua, was in a residential treatment center, after battling alcoholism on his own for two years. Whenever "I'll Be Home for Christmas," played, I had to get to some place private quickly, to struggle with my despair alone. READ MORE

Mourning Person

If there was ever a time not to buy clothes, it is now. But I have a new office job after years of working at home. I need to pass as a professional woman. It is not just the bad economy muting my urge to shop—about a year ago my only son, Josh, died of anaccidental overdose.
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