LOS ANGELES, CA-
The thing about language that can be really nice is that it can take on the properties of music. Not song music, like lyrics or something. It can take on the properties of pure melody, which has no graspable, empirical meaning, but when listened to enough will coagulate into a meaningful emotion. (more…)
LOS ANGLES, CA-
Last weekend my cousin met my mom and me for dinner in Ojai, a lush spa north of here and over after-dinner wine we talked about nothing and eventually began debating whether I had actually been at her house for Thanksgiving and not Christmas. (more…)
LOS ANGELES, CA -
There’s really no one day that I decided to move from my little neighborhood in Queens. Actually, I guess it would be the one when I rented a car and drove myself out of there. But there is a day that stands out in my mind as a significant addition to my resolve.
LOS ANGELES, CA-
For the record, I teach these people legitimate ESL topics, like present perfect and subjunctive clauses. I’m used to being challenged on why Americans say books but not geeses, or on subtleties like why “last year I had a girlfriend” makes sense and “last year I was having a girlfriend” doesn’t. But what in teacher-training school could have prepared me for last Monday, I wonder. Tommy Park, a 27-year-old stuck, perpetually, somewhere in his early teens, proceeded to talk to me about porn for twenty whole minutes.
