The awkwardness of capitalism
“Why so large cost…” – William Shakespeare, Sonnet 146 Though it’s pretty clear that capitalism is here to stay, and I know it’s better than communism, there are certain people – and I’m certainly one of them – who don’t do all that well in a capitalist economy, either as a buyer or a...
Enjoying the apocalypse
Is it just me, or does anyone else get annoyed when, on a day like today (Monday, April 16), when the high temperature in my town is supposed to top out at about 25 degrees above normal, everyone seems so happy about it? I feel like screaming, “It’s climate change, everybody, run for the Arctic,...
Paul Simon and me
In 1987, at the age of 44, I ran for town board in New Paltz, experiencing for the first time what it was like to be one of the standard-bearers for a political campaign. My running mates and I had gone into the race as underdogs, but as the election approached, I began to sense...
An inspiration
“Florence Wolfson Howitt, whose lifelong dream of recognition as a writer eluded her until she was in her 90s, when the diary she had kept as a teenager was found in a Dumpster and became the subject of a newspaper article and a widely publicized book, died on Tuesday at her home in Pompano Beach,...
Time management
I have a problem with time management. I know I am not alone in this; in fact, I know I am not alone in practically any of the problems I have, except for the dilemma I experience each day when trying to decide whether to put on my right or left shoe first. But with...
Enough with the nagging
The teaser on AOL said something like “More likely to cause divorce than adultery!” What? I thought to myself. How could anything be more likely to cause divorce than adultery? Was it differences in how we use the remote? Could it be arguments over who gets to do The New York Times crossword puzzle each...
How to be an aging parent
Over the years I have often written about the relationship between parents and their adult children. In fact, one of my earliest columns, which I wrote back in 1985 when I was 42, is titled “Solving the Parent Problem.” In it I said that while we may describe our own parents as difficult (if not...
Teachers
A landmark new research paper underscores that the difference between a strong teacher and a weak teacher lasts a lifetime. Having a good fourth-grade teacher makes a student 1.25 percent more likely to go to college, the research suggests, and 1.25 percent less likely to get pregnant as a teenager. Each of the students will...
Schadenfreude
There are feelings and experiences that sometimes English just doesn’t have a word for, and another language does; so we import it. One of these imports is the German word schadenfreude (pronounced SHAH-den-froydeh), which means — as best we can translate it into English — pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. Oh, come on,...
Sibling rivalry redux
I was talking on the phone to my brother the other day, and, as often happens these days, our conversation turned to such cheery topics as bodily deterioration and death. There was a time we talked about our parents, our careers, or our current girlfriends; but now we are well into our 60s (in my...
Happiness and modern times
Though my bi-weekly column is called “A Laughing Matter,” I do typically use this space at the holidays to talk seriously. As has often been observed, humorists are not necessarily happier than others, and the fact is that I and many people — both funny folks and regular folks — often use humor to ward...
Idiot moments
I am approaching a birthday, and birthdays always seem like a time to assess my life. Actually, for many years now they have seemed like a time to shriek with horror over the prospect of mortality, but I’ll settle for the assessment. Today, I’ve decided to look back at what can only be called idiot...