At the risk of sounding like a whiny, pretentious brat, I’m going to go ahead and say that—English major that I used to be (still am?)—I miss some of that high-falutin’ book talk I used to get in college. Gone are the days of debating Hardy over the cafeteria table, replaced with albeit more timely […]

In the past two years, my aunt has had first breast cancer and then cancer of the stomach lining. No one said so, but I’m pretty sure everyone thought she was a goner—including herself—especially that second time the diagnosis came up positive. But she was incredibly lucky: The doctors performed a procedure in which they […]

The typical definition of “blog”—simply put, some random person’s online journal of wandering and, more often than not, useless thoughts—usually holds little to no interest for me. I’m in the business of “me” (aren’t we all when it comes right down to it?) and so I have no time for other people’s hopes, dreams, friends, […]

Back to basicswww.realsimple.com Unless you haven’t ventured anywhere near a grocery store in the past five years you are probably familiar with the proud housewife’s almanac: Real Simple, the magazine that takes life and makes it easier…or at least more manageable. It’s a relative phenomenon that has expanded from the traditional magazine format into television, […]

As I write this, Memorial Day weekend is upon us. I have Monday off and I fully intend to “call in sick” on Friday. Four days of freedom meant it was imperative that I get the hell out of here; I haven’t left town since Christmas, everything in Aspen is closed for the off-season (including […]

One of the easiest things to do in Charlottesville is get on with your bougie self. It’s the old latte, stroll the Mall, linger over lunch, get another latte, drink some bottled water, go to yoga routine that this town is so adept at fostering. And I’m certainly not knocking it: Lattes and long lunches […]

In case you hadn’t already guessed, dear readers, I was a huge nerd back in the day as I shuffled through the Charlottesville City Public Schools. I blame my parents in part for this distinction—they who did not let me watch TV (except for PBS, natch), scoffed at cartoons and made me read books that […]

If there’s one word I hate in the English language (besides “moist” and “cellulite” and “pasty” and “luxe” and all the other obvious choices) then it’s the word “craft.” A small word with none of that discernable sexual innuendo that would usually qualify a word for a mild case of the “ews,” it calls to […]

I like it when people do my dirty work for me. Like the dishes, my taxes, or buying gas. I don’t know if this constitutes dirty work (because it hardly needs to be done at all), but some journalist in Philly has taken it upon himself to read the entire Left Behind series so that […]