There's a strange thing that happens when you study emotions for years: you become better at explaining them, but not always better at surviving them. I noticed this properly for the first time during a period I would have described, from the outside, as fine. I was productive. I ...Read More
I know a certain type of person extremely well, because for a stretch of my thirties I was him. He's fine. That's the first thing he'll tell you, and he'll mean it. He has a clean flat and a good coffee setup and a week that runs like a ...Read More
The usual story about bad writing is that it's a skill problem. The writer didn't learn the rules, didn't trim the fat, didn't have a teacher who beat the passive voice out of them. Fix the technique, the thinking goes, and the fog clears. I believed this for years. ...Read More
"Classy" is a slippery word. In popular use it covers tailoring, vocabulary, taste in wine, and the way someone walks into a room — most of which has nothing to do with character. The working definition that has held up best, in our reading, is the one the Emily ...Read More
Silence has a texture. In a crowded room, the person who speaks last tends to be the one most worth listening to — not because they have hoarded the best line, but because they have spent the earlier minutes paying attention. The art of saying less is not ...Read More
Everyone braces for the no-shows. We rehearse them in advance, almost. The friend who'll flake on the hospital visit. The relative who finds a reason to skip the funeral. The mate who goes quiet the exact week you need him most. We keep a running tally of these ...Read More