(From wire reports)
RIVERTON, NJ–Annoyed authorities have confirmed that a NJ family, in defiance of modern rules of common sense and maybe some real rules as well, took their three children on a driving vacation of 2,137 miles without an in-car DVD player or TV. [Read more →]
The summer is almost in full swing – and likewise, my skin looks like a barely cooked roast beef, and my barbecue grill is sweating from all the use I am giving it. After our trip last week to Lancaster, it was great to get back down to the shore and take a deep breath of salt air and a deep sip of a cold beer. This past weekend, Jack and I – as usual, were “party rocking” at many different locations at the Jersey shore. We played in the waves, rode a rollercoaster, and took a walk through a giant elephant. [Read more →]
When my father’s favorite sister leaves, I get Dad all to myself again. Since early in the summer, my aunt and I have knocked heads on the proper way to care for a dying man, so as soon as she is out of the house, I feel an enormous weight lifting. I feel more relaxed. I plan to make up for all the arguments from earlier in the summer. Then, I wanted to confront my father with his various failings as a Dad—from his various absences to his overbearing presence—but I’ve come to realize that it’s too late for this. He hasn’t eaten in weeks and can hardly take any fluid at all; he doesn’t have energy for intense conversations. If anything, a dying man feels he’s owed an apology from the rotten world, not like he is the one to apologize to selfish offspring or anyone else. So now, I am committed to rising above the fray and playing the role of the dutiful son until the end. [Read more →]
I was probably 9 or 10 years old? I was already working on our family’s vegetable farm full-time in the summer, and my cousins and I were making boxes (this process involves this big, stapler machine — at least for the ones that hold the heavier produce). Anyway, as we were working, we noticed that a baby bird had hopped under the packing shed. This thing was little — barely could open its eyes — and we were worried that it would get hit by one of the forklifts. So, we found a small box, filled it with those cloth-like paper towels that come in a box (rag-in-a-box, I think it’s called?), and then maneuvered the baby bird into the little refuge we created for it. [Read more →]
Ah, summer. For kids, this was once a time of extended days. Of doing nothing. Of internal adventure. Well, my friend, you can forget all that. This is 2011, and if you think your children are going to spend the summer To Kill a Mockingbird-style, hanging around and imagining the great world out there, you are behind the times. If you think of it that way, you, my friend, are a neglecter of your children. [Read more →]
I write about my son Jack in this blog all the time. It’s hard not to, he provides entertainment, I am proud of him, and to be honest, it’s fun to write about him. I am amazed how a three foot tall, thirty-five pound person consumes so much of my life. But this week I would like to pay homage to my girlfriend Cailin. She is my best friend, a great drinking buddy, a fun concert mate, and most importantly- she my baby mamma. I love her, and I love her name; it matches her personality in that both are very unique. She definitely keeps me on my toes and I appreciate that along with a million other things about her. [Read more →]
I never wanted anyone to take care of me.
I can’t say that I never needed care, just that I never felt much of a need for it. Maybe I didn’t allow myself a desire for it? Hmm.
In childhood it was available in spurts, the care. My father was absent of the ability, or desire. My mother tried her best, but struggled with depression and her ability to care for herself. Maybe that is saying too much about her, or giving her too little credit. Good thing she doesn’t really understand the internet. [Read more →]
While people are scrambling and plotting about how to pay for their children’s education, PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel has offered up a different idea: He is offering 24 people $100,000 not to go to college.
I have this ongoing belief that most of the woes we deal with as a nation, as a species are because we just haven’t paid enough attention; I think, I guess in what is an unshakable optimism about human potential (and you may read this as “delusion”), that once we are shocked awake to stupidity and injustice, we will fix it. In that regard, I am convinced that if we stepped back and thought hard — with real clarity and attention — about the amount of time U.S. students now spend preparing for the filling in of little bubbles and then filling in those bubbles, overnight we would have a massive education revolution. [Read more →]
Many, many parents think their kids are geniuses. Some of them are right, some of them are dead-wrong and some of them work hard to deceive themselves into believing that Einstein gobbles Cinnamon Toast Crunch at their breakfast table: “I know he fails everything, but I believe this happens because he is not challenged enough. So he needs to be in all the top classes, even though he has a test average of 6.” [Read more →]
Spring is in the air and despite the fact that my allergies have me sneezin’, wheezin’, itchin’, and scratchin’, I couldn’t be happier. The changeover from winter to spring ushers in street festivals, spring flings, and best of all – it’s the start of carnival season! Yes, my life is that exciting now that I eagerly await the chance to get out of the house on a spring night and attend a local carnival. [Read more →]
Another Mother’s Day has come and gone. While I’m sure the mothers appreciated the recognition, it’s back to reality today. Let’s face it — the flowers are wilting, the homemade card is in the trash, and the huevos rancheros from brunch didn’t really agree with mom’s touchy stomach. Now, we’re back to doing what we do best: criticizing our mothers.
When it comes to family, mothers get the absolute worst part of the deal. They give their blood, sweat, tears, sanity, personal hygiene, friends, hobbies (just to name a few) for the sake of their kids, and then get blamed for everything. It’s the natural order of things; your mommy is responsible for a few of the good things and all of the bad things that happen to you. Ask any therapist and she’ll tell you the truth — if it’s not one thing, it’s your mother. [Read more →]
Ladies and gentlemen, this week’s blog comes to you from a tired, unshaven, physically exhausted, and drowsy Marty O’Connor. Exactly like every Monday after a weekend in my 20’s. Except instead of partying and carrying on, I had my three year old son Jack, aka “The Jackal”, all weekend by myself as Cailin was up in Vermont participating in a race. I had a weekend full of running after Jack, entertaining Jack, not getting much sleep because of Jack, and trying to clean a house that is home to a three year old blond tornado named Jack. [Read more →]
Maybe I’m just a linguistic sponge, but I find myself falling into the discourse of those around me. A northeastern boy, I’ve felt that if I moved to say, the south, that I’d pick up not only the vernacular but the accent within weeks.
This brings me to adverbs. [Read more →]
A few months ago, I got pretty high and mighty about other people calling my son a dog. I was a little offended that another woman had the audacity to compare my child to her puppy. And now, I am heading out to buy him a child harness. Also known as a leash. Yes, dear reader, I’m buying my child a leash. Karma can be a real bitch, no?. [Read more →]
If you attend youth sporting events, you’ll see a familiar sight: A red-faced parent or coach shaking his head, frustrated, after a child competitor fell short. “She knows all the [insert things that one can know about sports],” the befuddled adult says. “But if only she’d listen!” [Read more →]
What women want is simple; hearth and home, a modest but consistent social position with its income, in short a nest to safely raise her children and a benevolent protector. Where does it say that? The Book of Mormon? Well, it might, but more remarkably these are the assertions of that reliably Liberal outlet, Politico. What “women” are these? Of course this is a specifically electoral look at the fairer, but still pretty unfair, sex. They say both Republicans and Democrats have missed the boat but it is the Democrats who made the bigger splash because they traditionally claim the “women’s vote” by some margin. Occasionally it is not much, but they do rely on it. There is division even here though. While claiming “women” at large, the Democrats have not done well with “married women”. They have made this up however with wildly positive ratings among single women, single mothers, black women, latinas and, with some obvious overlap, poor women. That should surprise no one as it should surprise no one that this “study” flogged so prominently by allegedly neutral Politico powerfully over-samples, gee, exactly those subsets. [Read more →]
Dear Mom and Dad:
I’m trying to figure something out. See, I think I am an artist. I draw pictures in notebooks and people say I am talented. “So talented,” they say. I have this feeling they think I’m great, but I’m pretty sure I’m not that good. I’m just better than most of them, which doesn’t mean I am really talented, I don’t think. [Read more →]
I don’t know how you even count such things, but one prediction states that in 2011 the world will send seven trillion—nope, I have to write it out: 7,000,000,000,000—text messages. [Read more →]
Hey, we all have busy weeks. Here’s a meditation on parenthood and artistic identity that originally appeared on my blog:
Quite often, we’ll be listening to my iPod or the radio in the car and one of my young sons will ask me: “Is that you dad?” In my entire life, nothing has been as satisfying as that question. It means my boys see me as a composer and as a singer.
The audience that really counts gets it. [Read more →]
