A spring awakening. A retired doctor—an acquaintance of my mother’s—graciously offered to let my son use his grand piano while we were vacationing in Virginia. So, one Sunday, Mom and I brought Jesse over to the good doctor’s country estate, and, with a Haydn sonata cascading indoors, I was left in the back yard to… Continue reading Dr. Flowers and “The Gays”
Category: Atheism
The Truth Spectrum
A couple of months ago, a satirical Internet post quoted the Pope as saying that the church no longer believes in a literal Hell. I bought it for about four seconds—enough to say, “What!?!” rather than “Yeah, right”—because there was something so lovely about the way it was expressed: “Hell is merely a metaphor for… Continue reading The Truth Spectrum
Life With No After: A Child’s Lament
Jesse had gone to bed happy, with a new book, ten minutes earlier. Yet here he was in the doorway of the living room, about to burst into tears. Stifling my reflexive annoyance at his unscheduled reappearance, I said something comforting, like, “What?!” But he didn’t stop to explain; he just pitched onto the couch next… Continue reading Life With No After: A Child’s Lament
Why I Am Not an Agnostic
Upon hearing me say I’m an atheist, several people have asked, “Now are you an atheist or an agnostic?” Which is sort of like asking someone who just told you she is a lesbian, “Now are you a lesbian or are you just experimenting?” Obviously they want to give me—a person who seems nice—a nicer… Continue reading Why I Am Not an Agnostic
How to Start Your Own Holiday
Can you remember (without looking or guessing) what you did for dinner on October 12? No? How about on Thanksgiving? That’s my twenty-word argument in favor of holidays. Without holidays, the past dissolves into a smooth and pleasant blur. With them, our feeble brains hold onto at least a few moments each year.[1] But what… Continue reading How to Start Your Own Holiday
Church
I went to church this weekend. Just not the normal kind. When I was a sight-seeing child in Europe, churches were the salvation of my tired little legs. After dutifully examining the statue/triptych/stained glass of art historical significance, and before moving on to the next entry in the Blue Guide, I was permitted a few… Continue reading Church
On Saying “No” and No More
(If you haven’t already, read here how I got myself into this mess. ) ♦ ♦ ♦ You don’t have to explain. That’s what I kept telling myself. Just say it’s not going to happen. I had resolved to tell my father-in-law that his grandson would not be celebrating a bar mitzvah. And I had resolved to tell him… Continue reading On Saying “No” and No More
Letter from Santa
Lena wanted me to send this photo to Santa to let him know that she received his letter and was honored to fulfill his request. Also, she would be happy to help him again in the future. Below you will find Santa′s letter, which Lena discovered on a box in her room when we returned… Continue reading Letter from Santa
Rites of Passage
A little over thirteen years ago, my first child was born. We named him Noah Cohen-Greenberg, which maybe could have sounded more Jewish if we’d tried harder (middle name “Moses”?), but maybe not. Shortly thereafter, he was circumcised in the hospital by a sardonic Korean obstetrician. If you are Jewish, you may have already read… Continue reading Rites of Passage
Missing the Magic
She asked again yesterday, when we came home from “The Magic of Christmas,” the Albany Symphony Orchestra’s annual spectacle of red, white, and sparkly. “Why can’t we do Christmas?” Lena’s my third child, but strangely the first to ask. My eldest accepted our Santa-lessness as a given, the way eldest children do; he wanted to… Continue reading Missing the Magic