Clik here to view.
Mary Poppins Is An Anarchist In Strict-Nanny Disguise
“If this was a democracy, you would still lose,” is something my husband has told our 3-year-old after she objects to our decisions. I can feel the frustration build in her as though it were tightening...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oh, To Follow the Road That Leads Away From Everything
Driving in a foreign country is a good way to turn your head inside out. It shakes the cobwebs and forces you to rearrange the heavy furniture of your mind. You need to make room for thoughts such as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Make Friends And Influence People, According to My New Dog
Last fall, when I was deeply in need of a warm, distracting project, I got a puppy. She is very cute, extremely soft, and really annoying. She enjoys chewing everything, but she especially loves my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Redux: A Vocabulary for the Almost-Lost
My dog died this week. It was entirely without warning; she was fine Saturday and on Sunday she collapsed, and then she was gone. I am shattered. I am in a state of constant saudade, a Portuguese word...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the Primitive Garden
I think I’m in the primitive garden. That’s the name of this garden, a weird fairy hollow situated near the border of the weird fairy artist ranch where I’m staying in Tucson. I am looking north. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s Getting Hot in Herre*
A few nights ago, my golden retriever puppy did a weird thing on the kitchen chair. I was standing at the counter island, where I always stand, and my daughter was in her chair across from me....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thinking About Water At The Waterway
The other day I thought a ghost was flushing the toilet in my house. I was standing in the kitchen when I heard a slight moan, followed by a metallic-sounding whang and a rush of water. But I was the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
All Systems Go, Brace For Landing
On Wednesday, April 11, if all goes to plan, a small spacecraft from Israel will alight on the surface of the Moon. It will be the first time any probe has done so under a private flag — that is to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
OK Google, Search: My Life
Google saved my life so many times last month, as I trudged through Europe alone. Without Maps, I would never have made it to my meetings, train connections, flights, meals, or anything. Google sent...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Marshes of America’s Space Program
Liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-70, July 13, 1995. Credit: NASA Last week, on my visit to the Moon rocks, I walked across a bridge topping a marsh. To my right were tall grasses emerging...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ruining the World By Seeing It
Before my sophomore year of high school, I went to Sea Camp, a week-long summer program in La Jolla, Calif., for (privileged) kids like me who were interested in marine biology. We learned about fish...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Come on Babe, Why Don’t We Paint the Town / With All That Swag
I didn’t even read your horoscope today, but I can promise you will obtain more swag soon. It is written in the stars, and in your company’s annual earnings report. You will go to a conference, a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oh, To Follow the Road That Leads Away From Everything
Note: This post originally ran Dec. 7, 2018, and is being resurrected for Atacama Week. Please consume extra water and enjoy. Driving in a foreign country is a good way to turn your head inside out....
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Win Friends And Influence People, According to My Dog
It’s my dog’s birthday today, so re-sharing this post from the winter felt appropriate. Also I am on deadline. Last fall, when I was deeply in need of a warm, distracting project, I got a puppy. She...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Savor All the Pieces of Moment
I recently bought a camera that prints pictures immediately upon exposing them. Remember those? It’s pretty fun, and it’s nice if, like me, you take a lot of pictures and then save them in your iCloud...
View ArticleClik here to view.
To the Moon, With Tardigrades and Knowledge
This post (published in May 2018) seemed worth resurfacing after the astonishing recent news that the Arch Mission Foundation’s Lunar Library had flown to our celestial neighbor with Earth life...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pets Are Supposed to Make Us Happy. So Why Am I So Worried?
My fish died last week. I am not sure how long he lay on the bottom of his aquarium before I noticed. It wouldn’t have been more than a day, because I’d checked on him the previous afternoon. He...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In the Muddy Shallows, the Frogs Are Singing. Is That OK?
“It’s like a good plague,” read the tweet from one of my NPR station’s editors. Epic floods across the Midwest this summer, which more than one local official referred to as “biblical,” brought a wave...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Helping Out Instead of Building Alligator Moats Might Help You Become A...
Eastern Facade of Spøttrup Castle, Denmark. How can I help? I say this to my daughter all the time. I usually mean it as a redirection for some kind of tantrum, or a snafu in the routine of an average...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You Cannot Prove A Negative. Does That Mean We’ll Search Forever?
The TESS telescope is a shiny little thinking metal tube, drinking the light of 20 million stars in our cosmic neighborhood. It launched last year on a voyage to identify planets that look like this...
View Article
